Ariadne
by Kasamyra
Summary: Ariadne Black, the only member of the Black family who is not in prison or dead, is quite an unusual girl. She was raised by house elves and talking portraits, and upon arriving at Hogwarts, she finds that she is one of the only pureblood children not under the pressure of prejudiced parents. Follow her story as she struggles to fit in throughout her first few years of school.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Beginnings**

"Kreature!" Sirius barked out in a harsh voice. The short elf appeared with a pop, half glaring at the last member of the Black's.

"Master Sirius, why are you calling on Kreature?" The elf asked, bowing mockingly, then muttered under his breath, "No good brat. If my Mistress could see him now."

"Shut up Kreature," Sirius said as he rubbed his dirty hands over his face. Kreature stood straight again, casting his large eyes around the destroyed house they stood in front of. "Kreature, go to my hideout. You will find Marlene and my daughter Ariadna there, I want you to take them to my mothers house and keep them safe. Tell her… tell her the Potter's are… gone. And tell her I'll be there soon," Sirius said, his voice breaking. Kreature's eyes grew even wider.

"The blood traitor son wishes Kreature to take care of his dirty blooded offspring, befouling the house of my Mistress, oh, if only she knew…" Kreature uttered, a sneer on his face. Sirius growled and swung his arm at the elf.

"I gave you an order, Kreature. You are bound to my blood, you must obey me," Sirius yelled at the elf, who bowed in return.

"As Master wishes," he said, then disappeared with a small pop. Sirius sighed again, running his hands through his shaggy hair, then he drew his wand and disapperated to find the traitor whom he had once called a friend, that had turned Lily and James over to the dark lord.

* * *

><p>Kreature was still muttering under his breath when he landed in the tiny hide out house that Sirius had been using for the last two years. The elf let out a long sigh as he heard a child crying somewhere upstairs. The house was dark and quiet, as it was many house past when most people went to bed. Kreature took in his surrounding, noting the table that had two unused place settings put out, and frowned, cutting off his muttering. He made his way through the dining room, stumbling slightly as his foot got caught on what he assumed to be the edge of the carpet. He snapped his fingers, causing a small but bright light to fill the room so he wouldn't trip again. It took him a few moments to understand what he was looking at, and when he did, he immediately let his light go out and rushed toward the wall. The living room had been completely destroyed, the far wall had been blasted out letting a soft breeze flow through the room. Kreature shook his head, listening for anyone who could still be remaining in the house that meant to cause him harm. After a few moments of silence except for the crying child, he snapped his fingers again, relighting the room.<p>

The woman was dead, he was sure of it, but he checked for breathing anyway. The elf was sure that this was the woman Sirius had told him to take to safety, but it was too late for that now. Kreature left her where she was, making his way up the stairs to the crying child. When he entered the room, the crying broke off, and he looked up to see the small girl, about as tall as he was, standing in her crib, tears falling down her face.

"Mama!" She screamed, beginning to cry again as she realized that Kreature wasn't who she had been crying for.

"Quiet," Kreature said, shocking the girl into silence again. He had no experience raising children, when Sirius and Regulus had been children, the other Black house elf, Tilly, had been in charge of taking care of them. Tilly was old now, and Kreature doubted she would be up to taking care of children again, but it was only until Sirius returned, so Kreature decided it would be okay.

Kreature walked over to the crib, grabbing onto the basin front of the child, then disappearing with a pop, taking the entire crib as well as the child with him.

He landed in the front room of number 12 Grimmuld Place, the child crying again now, making Tilly come into the room in a hurry.

"Kreature, what is this girl doing here?" Tilly asked, shaking dust from the thick gray hair that sprouted from her tall ears.

"Master Sirius called for Kreature," Kreature said, grumbling about blood traitors under his breath as he told the full story to Tilly, who nodded her head, eyes wide as he spoke.

"The poor child, without a mother, we must take care of her," Tilly said, standing on her toes to peer at the crying child who looked to be about a year and a half old. Tilly stared at her for a moment, then reached her small arms into the crib, picking up the girl and cradling her as she had the other Black children many years ago.

"Kreature must return to the child's house, we will need her clothes and things from her room. Put them into Master Sirius's room, that will be where we keep her until Master Sirius returns," Tilly said, rocking the child as her cries faded away. Kreature tumbled more, but disapperated with a pop, going back to Sirius's hiding place, appearing in the child's room. He looked around for a few moments, not knowing what Tilly had wanted him to bring back. After a few moments, he began apperating everything out of the room until it was empty.

Tilly spent the next four days trying to keep the child from crying. The old elf talked to the girl continually, telling her stories as the girl followed her around the house on unsteady feet. Kreature was assigned to the kitchen after Tilly has shown him how to mash up food so the small girl could eat it. Tilly did her best to move all of the various things in the house to higher shelves so the girl wouldn't accidentally pick up anything dangerous. At night, Tilly would carry the small girl up the stairs to the bedroom that Kreature had filled with her furniture. As Sirius's old things were still there as well, it was a very crowded room that Tilly could only navigate because she was small.

As the days wore on with no appearance of Sirius, Tilly began to fear that he had been killed as well. After the first week, Tilly sent Kreature back to the 'safe house' with orders to retrieve everything left in it and place it all into one of the empty spare rooms upstairs so that no one outside the Black family was able to get into Sirius's things.

Finally, Kreature reported back that the house was now empty, and that Auror's had been there the day before, discovering the woman's decaying body. They had searched the house, but found that most of the rooms were completely empty, and the walls were all bare of any personal affects. They determined that Death Eaters must have cleaned the place out when they killed the woman. Kreature also heard the Auror's say that Black must have ordered them to do so after he killed the Potters. When he repeated this to Tilly, the old elf gasped, saying that Master Sirius was the last of the family she had expected to join the dark side. Kreature relayed the news to the portrait of his Mistress, and she had laughed harshly, saying that there was no way her good for nothing son had changed sides, there must have been a mistake.

After nearly two weeks of waiting, Kreature was ordered to watch over the child while Tilly went to Diagon Alley for news and to restock on food for the child. She returned to tell the portrait of her old Mistress and Kreature that the young Master Sirius had been sent to Azkaban on charges of Death Eater activity. While her old Mistress laughed madly, Tilly returned to the living room where the young girl was playing with a dusty box she had grabbed off one of the bookshelves. Tilly pulled the box from her grasp, then led the child into the kitchen to wipe the dirt off her hands and arms.

"Kreature and Tilly must keep the child," Tilly said when Kreature had returned to the kitchen.

"Master Sirius ordered Kreature to keep her safe, and Kreature must obey orders," Kreature said, the mumbled something unintelligible.

"The child needs a name," Tilly said, frowning at the girl who was sat on the floor gurgling happily as she pulled various cooking things off their low shelves. Tilly raised her hand, sending the pots and pans back to their shelves, then waved her hand again to cleanse the dirt off of them and the child. The girl giggles as she watched the dust shake itself off of her clothing. "Kreature and Tilly must clean," the old elf said, waving her long fingers at the rest of the kitchen that had collected a good layer of dust in the last five years or so that the house had been uninhabited.

"Master Sirius called her Ariadne," Kreature said, glaring at the streams of dirt that were filtering their way off of his clothes. "The blood traitor names his offspring with the traditions of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black," he muttered, disgust evident in his voice.

"Clean the upstairs Kreature," Tilly ordered, scowling at the elf. "You is a house elf in service to the Black's. It is Kreature's duty to clean the house and take care of the Black family," Tilly waved her hand, gesturing to the little girl who was now the only remaining Black Family member. Kreature said nothing, but turned to the stairs and trudged up them slowly, muttering under his breath the entire way up.

Within the next month or so, Tilly had managed to go through the things Kreature had brought from Sirius's old house, storing what was needed in Ariadne's new bedroom. She removed the extra furniture from the room, leaving the child with a wide area to play with her toys in. When the weather wasn't too cold out, Tilly would bundle the child up and let her play in the small back yard in the snow. They would build snowmen and snow forts, just as Tilly had done with the Black brothers when they had been young. Ara could sometimes hear the neighboring children playing as well, but as their yard was fenced in, she could not see them, and as the house was protected against anyone else seeing it, they could not see her.

As a few more months passed, Ariadne grew more steady on her feet, beginning to run around the house in pursuit of the two elves, and though Kreature continued to mutter under his breath, Tilly could tell that the other elf liked the child a great deal, and it was not hard to see why. At almost two years of age, Ariadne's hair was long and black, her eyes were grey, and her features closely resembled the rest of the Black family's traits. The girl looked just like a miniature Regulus and Sirius, and Kreature had always been close to Regulus, even when he was younger. Regulus's death was what caused Kreature to go mad, but now, as Kreature grew to like the girl more, he started acting more like a house elf should act. He slowly stopped muttering under his breath, he kept up on the cleaning of the house, and even took over some of the cooking.

The first year passed by in a flash. The two elves decided to celebrate her birthday on the day she had been brought there, even though she was at least a year and a half old when she arrived. Tilly baked a cake, which Ariadne promptly shoved into her face, making a mess of her clothes, the table in front of her, and the chair she stood on to reach the table. The three of them spent the day playing hide and seek in the bottom floor of the house, Ariadne screeching with laughter ever time she was found, or found one to the elves. Her hair had grown extremely long as the elves felt it unsafe to let her leave the house to get it cut. The black curls fell halfway down her tiny back, and were constantly matted with some goo or food that she had been playing with.

By the time Ariadne turned five, Tilly was getting quite sore from moving around so much, and she was unsure that she would be around much longer. The old elf had hung the pictures of Ariadne's parents and their friends around the walls of her room, and continually told her stories about her father growing up. Ariadne's favorite story was the one about Sirius coming home with a stray elk that had taken to following him around. Tilly didn't mention that Sirius had run away from him only hours after he had come home that time, and he hadn't returned to the house since. When the boys were younger, Tilly had made sure that she taught both of them about the things their parents believed and how she, as an elf, thought they were wrong to believe so, and she made sure to do the same with Ariadne once the elf realized that she had been spending time talking to her grandmothers portrait. The woman, even from beyond the grave, was determined that no one else in her family defect to the light side. She had spent hours telling Ariadne stories about the dark lord and his followers, twisting them to sound like heroic tales that the young girl would like. After ever story the young girl listened to, Tilly would take her up to her room and tell her stories of the people the dark lord hurt and the bad things he did. The elf wasn't sure how much of this the child would remember or believe, but she did her best to make sure the girl knew about both sides of the war, rather than just the dark side her grandmother always told her about.

"Tilly?" Ariadne asked, poking her head around the corner of the living room where the old elf was using a duster to chase away the dirt that had gathered on the mantle place. The seven year old repeated the old elf's name three more times before the elf turned around and jumped in surprise at how floes Ariadne was to her.

"Goodness, child, you gave me a fright. Did you need something?" Tilly asked, waving her hand at the duster which vanished with a pop.

"I was wondering…" Ariadne said, then cleared her throat and tucked her hands behind her back as she had seen the other children do when they wanted something the few ties she had been allowed out of the house to play with them. "Where are my parents? All the other kids have parents and they all think I'm weird because I don't have any."

"What did you tell them? Did you say anything about-"

"I didn't tell them about magic, or you, I just said the people who I live with aren't my parents," Ariadne said before the old elf could go off on a lecture about what not to tell the muggles.

"Your parents were part of the war seven years ago. Your mother was killed. And your father was sent to prison," Tilly said softly, leading the girl who was now almost twice as tall as the elf, over to the couch.

"Grandmother said he's in jail because he was bad and left the family," Ariadne said, her sentence sounding more like a question.

"No, dear," Till said, shaking her head. "Your grandmother thinks he is bad because he fought on the good side of the war and the rest of the family fought on the bad side. She said your father must have been set up to go to jail because there is no way he did what the ministry said he did."

"What did they say he did?" The seven year old asked, tilting her head to the side.

"They said he killed a lot of people, but I don't think he did. He was always the nicest little boy. A bit mischievous, but nothing like the rest of the family," Tilly said, smiling slightly as she remembered.

"So if he isn't bad, how come he is still gone?" Ariadne asked, still confused.

"Because no one believes he isn't bad," Tilly said, sighing. She straightened the corner of the worn rug in front of the couch.

"Well I can tell them! Then he can come home," Ariadne said, grinning as she hopped off the couch and bounced a little with excitement.

"No you can't honey," the elf said, smiling sadly at her.

"Why not?" She said, sticking her lip out in a small pout.

"Well first, you are too young for them to listen to you. Second, the papers said the ministry had proof he killed all those people. And third, we don't think the ministry knows about you. If they did, they would have taken you away a long time ago. You don't want them to take you away do you?" Tilly asked. The girl shook her head vigorously, making some of her long black hair fall out of its ponytail. "I didn't think so. Now fix your hair before you go back outside with the muggles. And remember-"

"Don't mention magic, or talk about my family, or talk about the house because they can't see it," Ariadne finished for the elf having heard the same thing every time she went outside. The girl rolled her eyes, then used her hands to brush all the loose hair back and tucked it into the hair tie before she ran back out the front door and across the square to one of the neighboring houses where the nearby children liked to play.

Tilly shook her head and returned to her dusting. She could hear Kreature in the kitchen, cooking something for dinner and muttering under his breath about something or other. She checked the thick black drapes over her Mistress's portrait, making sure they were tightly shut so the woman wouldn't begin yelling about the child going out to play with muggles as she had taken to doing the last four months that Tilly had allowed her to go out.

Tilly finally passed away a week before Ariadne turned nine. The girl and Kreature dug a hole in the back yard under a short oak tree that Tilly had loved to look at, and they buried her in silence with a few tears. The week leading up to her birthday was solemn and quiet, Ariadne spent a lot of time locked in her room crying as Kreature wandered around the house muttering.

The morning of her birthday, Kreature had baked a cake and cut up pieces of it for their breakfast, which prompted a small smile from the girl at last.

"Kreature, aren't we supposed to have cake after we eat dinner?" Ariadne asked as she sat at the table and picked up her fork. She scooped up a bite of cake as the elf shrugged from where he stood on the chair.

"Kreature thought you needed something good to cheer you up," he said under his breath, then went on the mutter some other things which she ignored. Kreature could be nice, if she ignored the other things he said under his breath, which she had gotten very used to doing over the last nine or so years. She smiled as the elf ate his cake in silence.

"I'm going to look through my parents old things," she said when they had both finished eating and Kreature had taken the dirty plates to wash. Kreature continued to mutter under his breath, so she took that to mean he had heard her and she dashed up the stairs to the room that Tilly had always in sited she leave alone until her father came back since those were his things. She had tried to sneak in there multiple times, but the old elf had always caught her.

Ariadne hesitated outside the door, wondering if it was disrespectful to the old elf to go into the room against her wishes, but then she drew in a breath and pushed the door open. These were her parent's things and she had a right to look at them if she wanted to, since she was their child. The room was dusty, apparently neither elf had cleaned it since it had been brought here, and everything inside was haphazardly placed. Ariadne sneezed twice then pulled her shirt over her nose and mouth to keep most of the dust out. She lit a branch of candles near the door and recognized the closest object to her as her old crib that had been replaced with a bed when she was old enough to stop using it. She brushed her hand along the light colored wood, leaving a streak of clean where she brushed the dust off. She sighed and looked around the room again, then made her way between the stacks of books and other objects to the window on the other side of the room and grew open the heavy drapes to let more light into the room.

Ariadne turned to survey the room now that it was brighter and decided to start with the books. She put all the ones that looked too boring into her old crib, keeping the ones that looked easier to read through near the door. Tilly had told her about Hogwarts, but had said she might not get a letter since the ministry was never told that she had been born. If that were the case she would have to teach herself magic from books. She wasn't sure what she would do about a wand, but maybe she could convince Kreature to take her to Diagon Alley if she didn't get invited to study at Hogwarts when she turned eleven. Kreature was much less over protective of her than Tilly had been, so she supposed she would be able to convince him.

At the end of the piles of books, Ariadne discovered a few thin, black leather covered books. She flipped throng one of them, starting at the back, and frowned, seeing only blank pages. As she went to set the book down, it fell open to a page near the front that was covered in cramped handwritten words. She glanced over the first few lines, then her eyes widened as she realized what she held. It was a diary. She flipped eagerly to the front page and smiled when she saw the name Marlene McKinnon-Black and the date scribbled underneath it said the journal was about ten years old. This must have been her mothers journal, and probably the other two similar looking books as well. Ariadne settled back to read the journal, her smile slowly dropping as Marlene wrote about the war and being in hiding and about her family being killed by Death Eaters, and how she worried that they would come after her and her baby next. The third entry, dated March 21st talked about how Ariadne had just turned one, and she felt a jolt of surprise at finding out her actual birthday after years of celebrating it on the first of November. She was also surprised to notice in the writing, that her mother had called her Aria for short. Ariadne spoke the nick name out loud a few time, testing it, then she continued reading. The last entry, which was only about twenty pages in, was dated on Halloween of that year, and it was a short entry about how the Dark Lord had been gaining more and more power the last few weeks, and how Marlene felt uneasy about their hiding place, thinking that too many people had been told where it was. Ariadne flipped a few more pages over when she had finished reading before realizing that her mother must have been killed that same day. She frowned, wondering why she too hadn't been killed. She reached for the next journal, which was dated almost two years before the one she had just read. Ariadne smiled as she read this one. Her mother had written about falling in love with her father, and how good it was that when so many people were loosing loved ones, she was able to gain a loved one. That journal documented their first year in hiding together, and ended with her mother's excited writing that she had just discovered she was pregnant. The other journal walked through her mothers pregnancy and fears about the future and bringing a child into this dangerous world. At one point she wrote that maybe the child would be safe since it would be a pureblood baby. At another point she wrote that perhaps she should give the baby to a muggle orphanage, just to ensure that the Dark Lord would be unable to find it, but her mother had also written about how heartbroken she would be to be separated from her baby. Eventually, near the end of the journal, she had written that since they were in hiding, she would have the baby at home, and keep her there without telling anyone that she was expecting, so no one would know the baby existed. The final few pages were written several months after the others, and her mother wrote about how tired she was, looking after the baby, but how happy she was to have a beautiful daughter. Tucked behind the last page of the journal was a photograph of a blond woman holding a squirming baby in her arms. She had her head thrown back in laughter at something the other occupant of the photo had said. The man had his back towards the camera, but after she laughed, he turned around and grinned at Ariadne. She knew from the pictures on her wall above her bed that these were her parents, but she had never seen a picture of them with her. She smiled softly down at them as her father turned back to her mother to say something and her mother laughed again, bouncing the baby in her arms slightly. She watched as Sirius smoothed down the black tufts of hair on the baby's head in a sec on nature kind of move, and she placed the photograph on top of the stack of books she wanted to move to her room.

A glance out the window told her she had spent most of the morning reading her mothers journals, but she felt happy with what she had learned about her parents. Now that she was finally able to put a personality to the faces she had seen in pictures, she felt like she was closer to them somehow. Then Ariadne had a sudden realization that since she would turn 11 in March, and Tilly had told her thats when children were told they could go to school, that meant she would only have to wait a few more months before she could start learning magic, one way or another. She grinned with excitement at the idea of learning magic. She could making things disappear like Tilly did! Ariadne frowned and let out a sad sigh when she thought of the old elf that had taught her to speak and read and write. Tilly had told her stories of Wizard history, and House Elf history, and had taught her about how to treat other people with kindness. When Ariadne had been younger, she had listened with rapt attention to the stories her grandmothers portrait had told her, but as she got older and spent time with the other muggle children in the neighborhood, Ariadne had come to realize that her grandmother was wrong about muggles. The children were only mean to her if she was mean first, and they certainly didn't act how her grandmother had said muggles did. Ariadne had stopped talking to the portrait when she had turned eight after her grandmother had screamed that she was a blood traitor and just as bad as her father.

Ariadne leaned back against a pile of boxes filled with her parent's old clothes and sighed. After all the years here, her father was one thing she was unsure of. She knew he had been sent to prison for being a death eater and murdering muggles on the same day that she had been brought here and her mother had died. But Tilly, and even her grandmother, had said over and over that they didn't believe Sirius to be guilty. But if he was innocent, he wouldn't have been sent to prison, in Ariadne's mind. She let out another sigh, then decided not to think about her father anymore for the day. She slowly sifted through the contents of the room, deciding to skip lunch. Most of the boxes had been filled with old clothes or linens. A pile of china dishes sat in the corner of the room, surrounded by glass vases and cooking utensils. Finally the room grew dark as the sun set, and Ariadne gathered up the things she wanted to bring to her room, including a photo album she had found, multiple books, and a long thin box that contained a wand. She was unsure whether it was her mothers or fathers, and she didn't know how to use it, but she wanted to look over it more carefully in the light of her own room.

Ariadne ate the dinner that Kreature had left out for her in a hurry, then rushed back up to her room to try out the wand. She picked it up and waved it around like she had seen muggles do in their muggle movies when she went to the neighbors house to watch. A few books flew off her shelf, falling into a pile in front of the shelf. Ariadne giggled, then waved the wand again, towards her bed. The sheets jumped off the bed, flopping onto the floor. She tossed the wand onto her bed, then bent to retrieve the spell books she had taken from her parents things. She flipped through one of them, looking for something easy to try. One of the books had a diagram of how to wave the wand and pronounce the spell words, and she studied it for a few moments, speaking the words aloud slowly to make sure she knew them, then she tried waving the wand in the pattern the book demonstrated, a gently curving line up and then a harsh flick out to the front. She tried the spell a few times, waving the wand at various things around her room, but nothing happened. She grew steadily anger in her actions until, finally, she accidentally upended her bookshelf. She put the wand back into its box and went to straighten the shelf and replace the books on it, frowning as she did. She couldn't understand why the spell hadn't worked. She had said the words how the book said to, and waved her wand the way the wizard in the picture did. She flopped angrily down onto her bed after putting out her candles, and drifted quickly off to sleep.

The months leading up to March seemed to drag by. Ariadne stopped spending time with the muggles in the neighborhood. When she was younger, they thought it was funny that she said she lived in number 12, though there was no number 12 in the square. Now that they were all older though, they thought she was being stupid on purpose, and that she just didn't want to tell them where she lived, and they had started to ignore her when she came out to play in the square with them. After a few weeks of this, she had stopped going out to see them, though she would watch them from the window in the sitting room sometimes. Kreature was not as good at keeping the house clean as Tilly had been, and Ariadne took to dusting and cleaning to keep herself busy when she wasn't reading over the spell books she had taken from her parents things. She had begun to memorize as koch as she could from the books, sure that even if she was accepted to Hogwarts, the other kids would know way more than she did, since they were raised by parents, not house elves. She had tried a few more spells with the wand she had found, but none of them had worked, and Ariadne was beginning to doubt that she could even do magic. Maybe she was born as a squib, like the uncle who's name had been burned out of the family tree tapestry on the walls of her favorite room. She had always liked the tree tapestry, when she was younger she would drag chairs into the room to read the names that were higher up, and now that she was older she still occasionally peeked into the room. She liked the way the leaves on the tree between the names seemed to flutter and move, and she liked to look at the pictures that accompanied the names on the tree. Her fathers name was barely visible at the bottom of a black scorch mark and Ariadne traced her fingers over it often.

That was where she was on the morning of March 21st, her real birthday, the day she turned eleven. She let her fingers follow the branches of the tree from her father's burnt name to his brothers picture. She had to admit that her uncle Regulus looked very much like her father, and she noticed that she had many of their features. The eyes and nose were the same, and the hair color, though she got the curls from her mother, as well as her mouth and high cheek bones. She was drawn from her staring by a tapping on the front door and her head whipped up in surprise. Never in the entire time she had lived there had anyone ever knocked on the door. Tilly had told her that no one could see the house at all, so she had no idea what someone could be doing a the door. She made her way into the hall, her hand clenched around the borrowed wand she had taken to carrying around with her. Kreature had also poked his head into the hall at the knocking, and he glanced between the door and Ariadne with wide eyes, muttering under his breath.

"Kreature, can you please answer the door? Tell them you are here alone, and don't tell them anything about me, please. I'll be in here," Ariadne said, gesturing to the sitting room across the hall. "Try to get them to leave, whoever they are."

Ariadne's heart was beating hard, and her palm was slick against the wood of the wand she didn't know how to use, but she took a deep breath and his herself in the small space between the wall and one of the couches in the sitting room, then listened intently as Kreature padded up the hallway and pulled the door open.

"Hello," she heard a deep voice say when the door had been pulled open. "I was hoping that I may speak to Ms. Black, if possible." She let out a small gasp when she heard her name, she was so sure that no one else had ever heard of her.

"Kreature is alone. Kreature is alone many years," she heard the elf say, then heard him continue to mutter unintelligibly. "Kreature likes to be alone. Kreature does not like wizards meddling in his home."

"I do apologize if I am intruding," the man said, and Ariadne thought his voice seemed amused. "But isn't it polite to offer guests tea when the arrive after a long journey?" Kreature was silent for a moment, and Ariadne could just imagine him glaring up at the man.

"Please come in, I will bring you a cup of tea," the elf said, and Ariadne nearly let out a groan, but muffled her voice as she heard the door close and footsteps come down the short hall, then turn into the very room she was hidden in. She heard Kreature in the kitchen, putting a kettle onto the stove to heat water for some tea. After nearly five long minutes, the elf returned, setting a tray with cups and the teapot on the low table in front of the armchair the mad had taken. Keeping her head low, Ariadne poked her head around the corner of the couch, just getting a glimpse of the man before plying her head back in. The man was old, judging by his long white hair, nearly as long as her own, which hadn't been cut since she was brought here. His long white beard was nearly as long as his hair. He wore half circle glasses on his long nose, and he was wearing long dark blue wizard robes.

"Now, I was hoping I could speak to Ms. Black about attending my school next fall. Do you know where she is?" The man asked, and this time Ariadne did gasp, then clapped her hands over her mouth.

"Kreature does not know of Ms. Black. Kreature is alone," Kreature began to say, but Ariadne crawled out from behind the couch, then stood quickly and leveled her wand at the man who had continued to calmly sip his tea, not in the least surprised to see the girl.

"Who are you?" She asked, her hand shaking slightly as she pointed the wand at him. She brought her free hand up to the wand as well, using both hands to keep it steady.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore. I am the headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Ms. Black," he said, smiling slightly at her.

"How do you know who I am?" She asked, still frowning at him. She kept the wand raised at him, just in case he tried anything funny.

"Ms. Black, when a wizarding child is born we have ways of knowing," he said simply, taking another sip of tea.

"But, if you knew I was born, why didn't you take me away? Tilly said that if anyone knew I was here, they would come to take me away," she said, forgetting to hold her wand out at him. She frowned in confusion.

"Ah, well, to my regret, I personally did not know of your existence until earlier this month," he said, his brow twitching down momentarily, but then his face adopted a small smile again as he looked her over. "And who, may I ask, is Tilly?"

"She was my house elf. She died last year," Ariadne said, sitting on the edge of the couch she had hidden behind. "Are you here to take me away?"

"Not unless you wish it my dear. While we usually do not allow underage witches to live without a guardian, I think in this case we can allow it. No, I am nearly hear to invite you to attend my school next year," he said, running a hand along his beard.

"Why would I be an exception?" She asked, frowning again.

"It's of no matter to you," he said, smiling again. "I would like to take you to Diagon Alley though, if you agree to attend my school that is. We would need to get you proper school supplies, and also a wand of your own, as I assume that one is a borrowed wand."

Ariadne stared blankly at him for a few moments, then nodded.

"I want to go to school. But I don't have any money for books and things," she said, worried now that they wouldn't allow her to go to school if she couldn't pay for it.

"But you do have money, my dear. Your family was quite well off, and as you are the last of the Black family, you have inherited not only this house, but also their vaults at Gringotts as well," the wizard said, setting his cup down and standing.

"Wait, I don't know what Grin- uh- whatever is, and I don't know how to get to Diagon Alley," she said, jumping to her feet as he began to walk out of the room.

"I will show you of course," he said, holding his arm out to her. She hesitated, then wrapped her hand around his elbow. "Hold on tight," he said, a gleam in his eyes. She gripped his arm, then gasped as she felt herself squeezing through a tight place, and she gasped as her lungs expanded again, then she looked around, seeing the back of a building that reeked up alcohol, and a brick wall surrounding the tiny yard they had landed in. She pulled her shoes out of the mud that was a result of some of the snow around them beginning to melt. She shivered and pulled her thin sweater tighter around her shoulders, then she turned to watch as Dumbledore used his wand to tap the brick wall. Her mouth fell open as the wall melted away, forming an archway through which she could see more people walking the streets than she had ever seen in one place before. Her hair fell into her face as a wind followed them through the archway, and she pushed it back impatiently, looking around at the many shops lining the street. She followed Dumbledore down the middle of the street, falling behind has she peered through various shop windows, then raining to catch up.

Finally they came to a stop in front of the tall building at the end of the street, and Ariadne looked up with a wide eyes at the glistening sculptures and sides of the building.

"This is Gringotts Bank," Dumbledore told her, leading her inside. She looked around the bustling room they entered, watching goblins and wizards wandering to and fro, all talking or counting heaps of gems or coins. Dumbledore approached one of the goblins and spoke quietly to him.

"Key please," she heard the goblin say as she approached the old wizard.

"The Black vault needs no key," she heard Dumbledore reply.

"You wish to visit the Black vault? You must be of direct relation to do so," the goblin said, finally lifting his head from the paper.

"Ariadne Black is the last remaining Black. She would like to make a withdrawal," Dumbledore said patiently, waving his hand over Ariadne. The goblin turned his gaze to her for a long moment, and she suddenly realized that her hair was probably tangled hopelessly and her clothes were probably not as clean as they should have been. She used her palms to brush off her jeans and looked down to the floor as the goblin finally turned back to Dumbledore and nodded.

"Follow me," he said, and Ariadne followed the two of them through the wide room and through a side door. Seeing the cart, she realized that they would be riding to the vault and she quickly twisted her hair up behind her head and secured it with the hair tie she wore around her wrist at all times, before climbing in.

"Hold on tight," the goblin said shortly, then without waiting to make sure the passengers were secure, he pulled a lever at the front of the cart and they began zooming down the twisting tracks. Ariadne let out a shriek of glee as they whipped around corners and down large drops, picking up speed as they went. Finally, the cart came to a sudden stop causing the girl to fall forward to her knees, not expecting the change of movement. She stood and clamored out of the cart after the other two, grinning widely.

The goblin led them toward the large, ornately carved doors they had stopped in front of, and Ariadne nearly collided with him, she was so busy staring up at the doors.

"Oh," she said, finally looking down when she bumped into the goblin. She took a step back. "I'm sorry, sir," she continued, bowing her goblin looked surprised at being addressed as 'sir' but he shook his head and stepped up to the door, setting his hands against the middle, which glowed for a moment, then faded.

"You girl, put your hands on the door here. If you are truly of the Black family, the vault will open for you. If not, well, there will be consequences," he said, stepping back from the door. Ariadne glanced up at Dumbledore, who nodded her toward the door with a smile. She walked forward hesitantly, then lifted her hands so that one hand was on each door. The crack between them flared bright white for a moment, then she stepped back as she heard loud clinking and the turning of gears from the other side of the door. After a few moments, the doors swung inward and the three of them walked forward into the vault.

Ariadne looked around in surprise. The vault was much bigger than she expected it to be, and it was filled with towering piles of coins and jewelry and other treasures, all glittering in the torches that had sprung to life when the doors had opened.

"Here, I suggest you use this. You will not need much for school supplies," Dumbledore said, holding out a small coin purse for her to use. She scooped up a few handfuls of the gold coins, tying the bag shut when it was full. She tucked it into the pocket of her sweater, then looked around again. The goblin had walked back to the cart, and Dumbledore was at the door. He turned to look over his shoulder just as she reached toward a small statue on a low table, intending to pick it up for a better look.

"Many of the things in the vault could be considered as dark artifacts, and some of them could contain curses. It would not be wise to touch anything if you are unsure of what it will do," the old man said, then turned to join the goblin. Ariadne drew her hand back, but then her eye caught a small ring on the table in front of the statue. She glanced back at the others to see if they were watching, then she quickly pulled her sleeve down over her hand, snatched up the ring, and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans, then she ran out of the vault to catch up to the others. The cart ride back was just as wild as the one down, but now Ariadne was thinking about the ring she had taken. She wasn't sure why exactly she had felt the need to take it, but as soon as Dumbledore had told her not to touch anything, she had felt an overwhelming desire to do just that. She touched the ring through her pants, making sure it was still there, then climbed out of the cart when it came to a stop.

Dumbledore spent the rest of the morning taking her to shops to get her school things, starting with a wand, since that was what she was most excited to buy. The old man who sold wands seemed only a little surprised when she entered the shop, but he rushed around, taking measurements and pulling boxes down from the shelf for her to try, finally settling on one that looked very similar to her borrowed wand at home. When she pointed out the similarity, the old man god her that she must have her mothers wand, then launched into the story of her parents's first wands. She smiled politely through the talking, not sure if she really liked the strange man, but she thanked him anyway and told him it was nice to meet him before she left.

"You are quite polite for a child who hasn't spent much time around other people," Dumbledore observed as they left the book shop, laden with bags of her class things.

"Well I never know when I'm going to need something, so being nice to everyone means that if I ever do need something, I will have a lot of people to ask for it," Ariadne said, smiling. Her grandmothers portrait had told her a lot of thing int he past, one of them being 'the only reason you should ever be kind to someone is if you want something from them' and while Ariadne didn't listen to much of what the portrait said, this one thing had stuck with her. Wanting something from someone wasn't the only reason she was nice, she did like being kind, but the time might come when she needed something from someone, and she was more likely to get it if she had been kind to them in the past. Dumbledore didn't comment on her reasoning, but simply led her to the front of another shop.

"Hogwarts school permits you to bring a pet with you if you would like. An owl, a cat, or a toad are permissible if you would like one. If not, we are done getting your school things and we should return to your home," Dumbledore said, gazing at the array of owls in cages that could be seen through the front window of the shop. Ariadne wasn't sure if she wanted a pet, but she definitely knew she didn't want to return home yet. This had been the best birthday she'd ever had, she was in Diagon Alley for heavens sake. She didn't want to rush back to the dark house she had spent her life locked inside.

"I'd like to look at the animals, if you don't mind," she said, smiling up at the headmaster.

"Very well. You may leave your bags out here with me, I would prefer not to go into the shop with you, it is much too crowded for my liking," he said, setting the bags he carried on a nearby bench. Ariadne set hers there as well, then watched as he waved his wand over them and they all shrunk. He tucked the miniature bags into his cloak, then turned to see her still watching him. "Go on then, I need to be getting back to the school soon."

Ariadne nodded and hopped up the front steps to the shop and pulling the door open. The shop was much darker than the street, and it took her a few moments to adjust to the change in lighting, but when she did she could see why Dumbledore might not like the shop. There were many narrow isles with hundreds of cages staked from the floor to the ceiling, and every single animal was making noise. She saw all the owl cages toward the front of the store, full of hooting occupants and stray feathers. The next few isles held tanks with frogs, lizards of all colors, rats, and fish. Behind them, she could just make out cages with cats, and behind them, larger cages that, from the sound of them, held dogs. She walked through the isle of lizards, smiling at the bright colors, then made her way through the multitude of fish.

Ariadne turned down the next isle, which was full of cages of cats, this isle was definitely one of the quietest ones in the shop, besides the fish of course. Most of the cats were curled up in their cages, sleeping, or lazing about. There was every color of cat Ariadne had ever thought there could be, and many more. She walked past a cage of bright white kittens that were hopping over each other and using their tiny paws to knock each other over, then past a cage that held one large orange cat that watched her from the far corner where it had curled into a fluffily ball. A loud mew drew her attention to a cage on the bottom of a stack that held one tiny light grey cat with dark round markings along its back and dark stripes on its head and legs. Inside each dark circle was a patch or reddish brown fur, and when the kitten realized it had her attention, it flopped over, showing her a white belly and neck. She smiled at it, crouching down in front of the cage. She poked her fingers through the cage and the kitten batted at them with its tiny paws.

"That's a Bengal cat," a voice said from behind her, making her fall forward slightly in surprise. She looked up to see a middle aged woman wearing an apron that was covered with scratches and odd stains. Ariadne assumed she worked here, and turned back to the cage that held the kitten without commenting. She continued to poke her fingers through the cage. "She usually tries to savage anyone that gets too close. Bengal cats used to be wild, they have only been domesticated within the last hundred years of so. The muggles breed them with better calmer cats so that their temperament is less wild. This one is probably a bit to energetic for them though, but Bengal cats are very smart, and very loyal once they like you. They take a lot of training though, but she seems to like you."

"I like her too, she's beautiful," Ariadne said, standing at last.

"Bengals grow to be quite large, about twice the size of a normal house cat," the woman said, squatting down to open the cage. She handled the kitten briskly as it tried to twist around to bite her fingers. "But they are very good about feeding themselves, if you let them outside."

"May I hold her please?" Ariadne asked, holding her hands out. The woman placed the kitten into her hands, and it immediately stopped wriggling to peer up at the new human with bright blue eyes.

"Well, she seems to like you well enough," the woman said as the kitten wriggled slightly in the young girls grip.

"How much is she?" Ariadne asked, rubbing a finger over the kittens tiny head. It mewed at her, bring it's paw up to bat at her. Ariadne patted the paw away with her finger, promptly starting a game of batting at each other with the kitten.

"30 Galleons and 4 Sickles will buy you the cat, her carrier, and the standard starter kits we give to all our new cat owners which includes a small bed, a collar, some food, and a scratching post," the woman said walking back to the front counter of the store. "If you already have any of those things we can subtract from the price."

"I don't have anything yet," Ariadne said, carrying the kitten to the counter as well. She put it down gently, then watched as she sniffed a tank on the counter filled with bright purple fish. The kitten jumped so both her paws were in the side of the tank, and Ariadne pushed her down gently.

"Very well, let me gather some things for you, and I can shrink them so you can carry everything home, just have you parents return to their normal size," the woman said, placing multiple objects into a large box behind the counter. Ariadne ran her hand over the kittens back and smiled as it arched up and turned toward her for more attention. Ariadne pulled her coin bag from her pocket, and was glad to find that she still and enough coins with her to make the purchase. She would have to try to convince Kreature to bring her back here before school started so she could look around more and get more coins. She also wanted to look around at the other things in the vault without having to hurry for Dumbledore.

Finally the woman waved her wand to shrink the box, and handed the miniature things to Ariadne who tucked them into her pocked beside her now nearly empty coin bag. The woman scooped up the piles of coins and counted through them quickly, then pushed a button on the counter causing a sheet of paper to sprout out of a slit in the desk. She pushed it towards Ariadne with a quill.

"Sign you name there please. We like to keep track of who buys our animals, in case something goes wrong," the woman said. Ariadne glanced over the paper before signing it, just to make sure it wasn't a contract for anything, then she wrote her name at the bottom in slightly messy handwriting.

"Thank you, ma'am," Ariadne said, scooping up the kitten who mewled in protest of the rough handling. She soothed it into quite with a couple of pats, then walked back to the bench where Dumbledore waited, reading a scroll. When she approached, the scroll vanished and he stood.

"A cat," he said, taking in the small creature who was blinking in the sudden light. "Very fitting. Come now, we must return you to your home."

Ariadne made sure the kitten was secure in her grasp before trotting after Dumbledore.

The two of them arrived on her front porch with a pop, and she pushed the door open for them, waiting until it was firmly closed before letting the kitten down to smell the furniture and wander around its new house.

"Alright Ariadne," Dumbledore said, pulling the miniaturized bags of things from his pockets and setting them on the floor of the living room. "I'll return these to their normal size and then I'll leave you to your lunch."

"Wait," Ariadne said as he lifted his wand. "Can you do these too? They are from the pet shop." He nodded and she set the small box on the floor, then watched as he waved his wand and the items began to grow to a normal size again.

"Oh, before I go," Dumbledore said, turning toward her. "Here is your official letter, and your ticket to the Hogwarts Express. It will leave from Kings Cross Station at 11 o'clock on September the first. I think your elf will be able to bring you and your things to the station." She nodded, accepting the papers from him. "Now, I will be off. And please, I must tell you that if you feel the need to wander the wizarding world, be careful of whom you tell your name to. Not everyone will be happy to know you are of the Black family."

"Okay," Ariadne said, frowning in confusion as Dumbledore walked back to the front door, passing the kitten who was sniffing at the doorway to the kitchen. She lifted a hand as he walked through the door, letting it fall shut behind him bait loudly.

"BLOOD TRAITOR SCUM INFECTING MY HOUSE-" the portrait of her grandmother screamed at her, making the tiny kitten hiss in fright and disappear into the kitchen.

"Just because I don't want to kill all the muggles doesn't make me a blood traitor, grandmother," Ariadne said crossly to the portrait. "And it's not your house anymore, your dead."

"Insolent child! You would do better to respect your superiors, and see that your blood makes you superior to those filthy elves you spend so much time with," the woman snarled glaring down at the child who's shoulders barely cleared the bottom frame of the portrait. Ariadne stuck her tongue out at her grandmother, then quickly pulled the think black drapes over the picture before she could begin to howl about disrespect again.

Ariadne went to find the kitten, who was huddling under a chair in the kitchen with its tail tucked between her legs and her ears flattened. She hissed as Ariadne approached, but the girl ignored her and picked her up anyway.

"I'm sorry little one. She doesn't like me very much," Ariadne said, stroking the kitten to calm it. Finally the small creature let out a tiny rumbling purr, and Ariadne smiled down at it. "I think you need a name. What do you think?" The girl asked, waling over to set the kitten down on the table. The kitten washed a paw unconcernedly.

The girl thought for a few moments, pausing to find Kreature and let him know that she was home and would like a sandwich for lunch. As the elf clattered around the kitchen, Ariadne sat at the table, staring at the kitten, who stared back with unblinking blue eyes. After a few moments, the kitten reached a paw up to bat at a piece of hair that had fallen out of the haphazard ponytail Ariadne had put it up in earlier.

"You'd better stop that, or I'm going to name you something stupid," Ariadne said, pulling the lock of hair from the kittens grasp. The kitten tilted her head at the girl, then crouched down and launched herself onto Ariadne's shoulder, then promptly attacked more locks of hair.

"I think I'll call you Marley. Thats what my mom called herself. Do you like that name?" Ariadne asked, picking the kitten up and holding her in front of her face. The kitten lifted a paw to pat Ariadne's nose and the girl laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. What do you think, Kreature?" She held the kitten out to the elf as he approached the table, setting a plate in front of her.

"Very good young Mistress," the elf said, the disappeared into his cupboard. She shrugged, setting Marley down next to her plate. She ended up feeding half of the sandwich to the kitten before finally making her way back to the living room to go through her new things.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Spring and summer seemed to fly by. Ariadne spent all her free time studying her new school books and practicing the spells she was supposed to learn that year. Many of them she couldn't do yet, but she was able to do a few f the easier ones, much to her joy. She went around the house, levitating various things after her, grinning happily whenever the spell worked, which it did about half the time. Marley the kitten grew quickly, often bringing half eaten birds and small animals in through the back door and leaving them for a disgruntled Kreature to get rid of. By the time the middle of August rolled around, the kitten was about half the size of an adult house cat, and she ate nearly the same amount as one. She had gone back to Diagon Alley twice over the summer, once to go to the bank and purchase a book about Hogwarts, and once to look at brooms. She had never flown, but she was excited to try it.

Ariadne had cleared out a large chest with the black family crest emblazoned on it and had loaded all of her school things into it on the last day of August. She was sitting at the table for dinner that night when Marley jumped up to sit in front of her plate, chewing on a small object that glittered in the light.

"What have you got there girl?" Ariadne asked, dropping her fork to hold her hand out under the cats face. Marley looked at her for a moment, then dropped the object into Ariadne's hand with a small meow. It was the ring she had taken from the vault all those months ago. She had completely forgotten about it, but now she dropped it on the table quickly, watching to see if it was cursed to do something.

"Kreature!" She called, still staring at the ring. The elf walked into the kitchen from where he had been sweeping in the hall.

"Yes Mistress?" He asked, shifting from foot to foot.

"Can you tell if this ring has a curse put on it?" Ariadne asked, pointing to the ring where it sat on the table. Kreature walked over and picked it up, ignoring Ariadne's protests to touching it. He turned it back and forth in the light, finally placing it on a long finger and waiting.

"This is a Black family ring, see the crest there? It is not cursed," the elf said, then disappeared again when Ariadne had thanked him. She picked up the ring gingerly, looking at the front of it. There was a deep green stone set into the silver metal of the ring. Thin silver lines crisscrossed the stone, forming the same crest that was on her trunk with a large letter B in the center of it. She stood, leaving her half eaten plate of food on the table and walked to the now empty front hall where her grandmother's portrait hung. She pulled the curtains back with a snap, startling the woman out of a nap. She glared down at the girl with steely silver eyes.

"Grandmother, have you ever seen this ring before?" Ariadne asked, holding the ring up so her grandmother could peer at it. She narrowed her eyes at the ring, then let out a scoff.

"I suppose that's a fitting ring for you to have. It belongs to a traitor of the family," she said, sniffing regally.

"My father?" Ariadne asked, hiding a smile. Her grandmother always adopted the same disdainful voice when she spoke of Sirius.

"Yes, he threw it at me when he ran away and defected to that side of mudbloods and blood traitors," the woman said, glaring at the girl again.

"Thank you grandmother," Ariadne said, then pulled the drapes back over the portrait before the woman could say anything else. She looked at the ring for a few moments, then slipped it on to her right index finger. The ring shone bright silver for a moment, then shrunk to fit her finger snugly. She waited a few more moments with bated breath to see if the ring would produce any other magics, but when it didn't she let her hand fall to her side again. Marley ran into the hall then, licking the remains of Ariadne's dinner from her lips, a smug looking cat smile on her face. She came to a stop in front of the girl, then launched herself onto Ariadne's shoulder where she had taken to sitting the last few months. The cat draped herself over Ariadne's neck, letting her head drape over one shoulder and her tail over the other, remaining mostly hidden in the girls dark curly hair.

Ariadne patted the cat, then walked up the stairs to her room to try to get some sleep before leaving for school the next day.

* * *

><p>Ariadne didn't fall asleep till nearly two in the morning, and was woken by Kreature's mumbling in the hallway outside her door. She glanced at the clock that hung over her bed and saw that it was nearly eight o'clock. She yawned and stretched, disturbing the cat that had been curled into a ball on her stomach. Marley opened one eye to meow at her angrily, then waited until the girl stood to settle back into the warm spot on the bed. Ariadne gave her a few teasing pokes, then went to shower and dress for the day. She fixed her wet hair into a braid down her back, the end of it falling below the back pocket of her jeans where she stuck her wand. She threw the last few things she needed for school into her trunk, then dragged it down the stairs with a series of thuds.<p>

She ate a banana for breakfast but was too excited to eat more than that. Finally at 10:15 she called Kreature to apperate her to the station with her trunk and a firm grip on Marley.

She arrived at the station which was mostly empty, and took in the view of the bright red train with awe for a few moments. Kreature's muttering brought her back to the present, and she let the elf help her get her trunk onto the train and up onto the luggage rack before thanking him and sending him home.

As she watched him disappear from the platform, she let out a deep sigh. She was finally on her way to school, where there would be other people her age, other people her age who could also do magic! She bounced slightly in her seat in excitement, making Marley let out a meow of protest from her place in her lap. Ariadne stilled, bruiting a hand over the young cat to sooth her back down.

She watched as the platform slowly filled up with other children and their parents, all of them chattering loudly in the steam covered area. Students greeted each other with excitement, rushing away from their parents as soon as they were able to.

As the large clock above the platform ticked closer to eleven, more and more students boarded the train, some leaning out windows to wave to their family or exchange last minute words. Finally, with a small jolt, the train began to move away from the station, wafting steam over the few parents still waving. One small red haired girl began to run ager the train, but Ariadne was distracted from watching her by the door to her carriage being pulled open.

"Is it alright if we sit here? All the other carriages are full," a girl with bushy hair asked, glancing around the compartment. Ariadne nodded and the girl walked in, trailing a large boy behind her. Both of them tugged heavy trunks behind them, and one of the boy's hand clutched a fat toad tightly. Marley's tail twitched as she watched the others come in from her seat on Ariadne's lap. The girl rested a hand on the cat, knowing that she would be watching the wiggling toad for the first opening. At the gentile pressure from Ariadne, the cat looked up, then curled into a ball as though that was her intention all along.

The two other students took a few minutes to help each other lift their trunk into the rack, then they both sat on the bench opposite Ariadne. The boy sat with a sigh, and released his toad, and before Ariadne could give them a warning, Marley jumped form her lap toward the toad, which hopped from the boys lap underneath one of the seats. Both the boy and the girl yelled at the sudden attack form the cat, and Ariadne was on her feet, Marley clutched in her hands within moments, scolding her while the boy tried to fish the toad out from under the seat.

"I'm sorry," Ariadne said, getting the cat to calm down. "I've been teaching her not to kill small animals, but it's not going very well I'm afraid," Ariadne said. Both girls had returned to their seats, but the boy was having troubles getting his toad back. Before anyone else could say anything the door was flung open again and the toad hopped through it, slipping from the outstretched fingers of the boy who had nearly caught him. The boy pushed past whoever had opened the carriage door, and was down the hallway almost instantly, the bushy haired girl followed after him.

"Hi, can I sit in here?" The boy who had pushed the door open asked Ariadne.

"Sure," she said, shrugging.

"Thanks. My trunk is in the next carriage over, but my friends are being too loud," he said, plopping down beside her, leaving an open seat between them. Ariadne turned to glance out the window again. The train had picked up speed and was now zooming past the countryside, the midday sun lighting up the trees and fields brightly.

"My name is Eddie Carmichael. I'm a second year in Ravenclaw. You're a first year right?" He asked aster a few moments of silence.

"Yeah," Ariadne said. turning back to him while still keeping a strong grip on the cat in her lap.

"What's your name?" He asked, smiling slightly.

"Ariadne Black," she responded, the noticed the smile fall from his face.

"Your surname is Black?" He asked, his voice growing slightly cold. She nodded, frowning a bit at his reaction.

"Yes," She said when he didn't respond to her nod.

"Well, nice to meet you. I need to go check on my friends though," he said, then stood and left before she had a chance to say goodbye. She was still frowning at the door when the other two students returned, looking slightly out of breath.

"I'm sorry about Marly," she said again when they had sat back down on their seats. "Did you find your toad?"

"No," he boy said, slightly whining. "We checked everywhere! I don't know where he could have gone."

"Don't worry Neville, I'm sure he will turn up," the brown haired girl said, crossing her legs as she leaned back in the chair. Then she turned to look at Ariadne. "My name is Hermione Granger, its my first year. Are you a first year too?"

"Yes. My name is Ariad- Aria," Ariadne said, deciding last minute to go by a shorter name.

"This is Neville Longbottom," Hermione said, waving a hand toward the boy who waved back. The three of them were quiet for a few moments.

"So, have you read over the class books yet?" Ariadne asked, looking for a subject to fill the awkward silence.

"Yes, I have. I've been memorizing as much as I can. Do you know how the sorting works? I heard form some of the other students that they test you in front of the whole school, I only hope I've learned enough. Do you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking about them and so far Gryffindor sounds like the best one, or maybe Ravenclaw," Hermione said very quickly, excited to talk about the books.

"I think my parents were in Gryffindor," Ariadne said, not commenting on the other things. A test in front of the whole school? What kind of test would it be? She shook her head, not letting herself worry about it too much.

"Oh, your parents are wizards? That's great. My parents are both muggles, they are dentists, so it was such a surprise when I got my letter, but they were pleased of course. You must know all about magic, since your parents are magical too right?" Hermione asked, and Ariadne could tell that she liked to gather information from the earnest tone in her voice. Ariadne gave a noncommittal shrug to answer the question, and Hermione was off again, detailing things she had read about the school and their classes.

Most of the train ride was spent listening to Hermione talk and the occasional visitor, including a slightly rude blond boy, the trolly woman, and a fifth year girl who accidentally went to the wrong carriage. Marley had curled up on Ariadne's lap, and slept until the sun started setting.

"I expect we are almost there, we'd better change into our school things," Hermione said at last, and the three of them stood to get there school robes and uniforms from their trunks, then went off the find the bathrooms one at a time.

By the time the train pulled into Hogsmede station, Ariadne was exhausted from her lack of sleep the night before. The night wind was a little chilly and she made sure Marley was tucked inside her robe as she followed the other first years into the small boats and set off across the lake. The large man in charge of their group led them into a brightly lit small room and reft them alone. Ariadne stayed near the back of the group, listening to the other first years. One group was talking about the sorting, another boy was telling those around him that they would each have to fight a troll, a few other small groups were quietly talking about the moving occupants of the portraits around them. The only spot of interest was when several ghosts drifted through the walls, scaring some people. Ariadne had been facing away from them and only turned when several of the first years gasped or screamed. The ghosts spent a few minutes staring around at them and talking to a few people before the group was led into a wide hall with four long tables placed along it. The harsh looking woman who had come to collect them led them up the middle isle to the front of the room where a old looking hat perched atop a wooden stool. Many of the first years, Ariadne included, had been staring up at the enchanted ceiling which currently showed hundreds of sparkling stars, when the hat suddenly burst into song. Ariadne watched it, listening as it described the four houses, then she smiled with relief at the end of the song. There wouldn't be a big test in front of the whole school, she only had to try on the hat. She let out a sigh, finally relaxing a bit. As the first girl, Hannah Abbot, was called, Ariadne set down Marley, with whispered instructions to stay out of trouble, then straightened again as the girl was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Black, Ariadne," the stern witch called. A few mutters were heard around the hall as she walked to the stool, sat down, and let the hat fall over her eyes.

"Hm, a Black eh?" a quiet voice said into her ears. "I haven't had one of you through here in quite a while. Now lets see, plenty of brains here, and a thirst for knowledge, you would do well in Ravenclaw. You can be loyal too, that's a Hufflepuf trait, but, hmmmm, it seems like you definitely have a cunning mind, and you know how to use it to get what you want from others, better put you in SLYTHERIN!" The hat called, shouting the last word out to the hall. The table to the far left clapped loudly, so she removed the hat and made her way over to that table, choosing a seat beside a girl with short blond hair who patted her shoulder as the next student was called. Ariadne watched the remainder of the sorting, only taking her eyes off the hat for a moment to look down when something nudged her foot. She saw the familiar spotted coat of Marley, and used her foot to nudge the cat back before turning back to the front of the room. The biggest outbreak of whispering was when the name "Potter, Harry" had been called. She wasn't sure why everyone knew that boy, but she made a note to ask about it later.

When all the first years had been sorted, and the headmaster had said a few words, the table filled with plates of food, more that Airadne had ever seen in one place. She snuck pieced of chicken and other meats down to her cat as she listened to the talk around her. Most of the other first years that had been sorted into Slytherin already knew each other, and they kept a conversation flowing between them easily.

At the end of the meal and after another speech from the headmaster, the first year Slytherin's followed the older students from their table out of the hall, Ariadne made sure to pick up her cat before leaving the table, and none of the others said anything about it, but perhaps that was because she stayed near the back of the group again.

"Alright you lot, the fastest way to out common room is through the dungeons, and the fastest way down is through this stairwell," one of the older students said, pulling aside a tapestry of a blonde witch dancing in a field of brightly colored flowers to reveal a hidden staircase behind it. The group of students followed him down the stairs which were lit by torches set every few feet along the walls. The stairway came out into a dimly lit corridor, and they followed the older student along two more halls, down another hidden staircase, and through a hallway that looked to have no classrooms off it, just endless brick walls.

"Here we are," he said, coming to a stop in front of a portrait of a regal looking man in black robes who sat in a throne like chair. "The password is Devil's Snare," the boy said, then stood back as the portrait swung forward to reveal a thick wooden door, which he pushed inwards, then led them through.

The grip of maybe fifteen students looked around the common room with wonder. Most of the older students had already come through and gone up to their dormitories, but a few were relaxing in the chairs set around the fireplace. Ariadne noted three other fireplaces placed around the spacious room, all of them surrounded by clusters of couches and arm chairs. There were multiple desks and tables that could be used to study at if needed.

"The girls dormitories are down that hallway, Gemma Farley is out other Prefect, she will show the girls to their dormitory," he said as the girl with short blonde hair Ariadne had sat beside appeared again. "Boys, your dormitories are over here, follow me."

"Wait a moment," Gemma said, commanding the attention of the room again. 'Tomorrow morning breakfast starts at 7. Before breakfast, Professor Snape, the head of Slytherin house, would like all the first years to gather in the common room as he wishes to further instruct you. Please try not to be late as he will not tolerate it. You don't want to end up with detention on your first day here. Girls, follow me please."

She turned to walk down the far hallway, leading the group of girls down the hallway. She led them nearly to the end of the hall, then pushed open the second to last door, ushering them through it.

"You will find your trunks already here," she said to the six girls who had begun to spread out into the room. "You will share a bathroom through here. If you have any questions, find me tomorrow morning. Goodnight," she said, then led the dorm. The room was split in half, three beds on one side, three on the other. Ariadne found her trunk at the end of the row on the left, beside Pansy Parkinson's bed, and she dug through the trunk for her pajamas, taking turns with the other girls for use of the bathroom before bed.

"Can you guys wake me up tomorrow? I always oversleep," Pansy said to the other girls as Ariadne exited the bathroom. There were a few comments thrown around to tease Pansy, then they all settled into their beds and fell asleep quickly with no more conversation. Marley jumped up onto Ariadne's bed, curling up in her usual place on the girls chest and purring softly, letting Ariadne drift off with a small smile on her face.

* * *

><p>AN: Hey guys, recently I have joined a Harry Potter RP site called Accio Nox, and I'd really like all of you to come join too :) Just google Accio Nox and it's the first link there :) If you do join, make sure you PM me and let me know, my username is Aria Gray. Hope to see you there!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Lessons

Ariadne woke to a rough tongue licking her nose. She pushed the cat off of her and rolled over, only to let her eyes spring open a few moments later when she remembered that she was no longer at home. For a moment, she was disoriented, looking around the room that was filled with a shifting, light green light, and then realized that there were large, wide windows placed around the room, showing what appeared to be the bottom of the lake. Light sifted through the water, casting a green glow over the beds and furniture.

Ariadne swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood slowly, stretching her arms over her head, then turned to her trunk where she had folded her school uniform the night before. Most of the other girls had already gotten up and she could hear them talking excitedly in the bathroom as they got ready for the day. Not wanting to disturb them, Ariadne pulled the drapes of her bed over to create a kind of screen between her and the others so she could pull on her clothes. She had left her hair in it's braid while she slept, and now she finger combed it out, letting the waves fall down her back. When she was ready she made her way toward the others, then paused at the foot of the bed next to hers, looking at the lump under the covers. The clock next to the door read 6:30 but the other girls were too busy giggling to bother waking their friend. Ariadne sighed then walked over to the sleeping girl and shook her shoulder lightly.

"Hey, it's almost 6:30, you might want to get up now," Ariadne said when the girl mumbled something.

"6:30! Crap!" She said, jumping out of her bed and turning to Ariadne. "I won't have time for a shower."

"Sorry. I would have woken you up earlier, but I just got up myself," Ariadne said, not wanting the girl to be mad at her.

"No its fine, I really should learn to get up in time for things on my own, I'm just a really heavy sleeper. I'm Pansy by the way. I forgot your name," she said, holding a hand out for Ariadne to shake.

"My name is Aria," she said with a small smile, shaking the girls hand.

"Sorry Pansy!" The other girls came rushing over, hearing them talking. "We didn't realize how late it was getting."

"Whatever," Pansy said. Then grabbed her clothes and stomped to the bathroom, letting the door slam behind her. The remaining girls looked at each other for a moment, then Ariadne stepped forward.

"I'm Aria," she said, holding a hand out for the girl at the front of the group.

"I'm Daphne. This is Tracey, Millicent, and Hestia. Our parents are all friends with each other, most Slytherins practically grow up together, so we were a little surprised that none of us had heard of you before," she said, shaking Ariadne's hand.

"Yeah," Ariadne said, choosing her words carefully. "My family has always been very… exclusive. We don't really socialize often."

"That's odd," Daphne said, then dropped the subject as Pansy reentered the room and threw her pajamas onto her bed.

"Come on you lot, we'd better get downstairs. I heard that Snape is really strict about being punctual."

The group of girls walked together down the hall, Marley trailing behind them, and into the common room where most of the rest of the house was milling about talking or reading. At ten minutes till seven, the portrait hole opened and a tall man with shoulder length black had stepped through, causing the older students to fall silent, the first years following suit after a few seconds.

"Sytherin House is is a prestigious group that few students are accepted into," he said when the room was silent. His voice was low and calm, but demanded respect. "You are here as a privilege, and it is my right, as head of Slytherin, to revoke that privilege at any time. If you break rules or cause trouble, it reflects badly not only on yourself, but on your house. Your house is your family while you are at school. I expect you to respect each other, and take care of each other. I expect you to achieve at least Acceptable in all of your classes, anything less than that will result in punishment. For every detention you receive from another teacher, you will also serve one with me. I expect the best from you, and I will not accept anything less. We, as Slytherins, will present a united front to the rest of the school at all costs. There will be no fighting or even arguing among members of this house in public. Outside of this room, you are a family, and you will act like one. I expect you to be on time for your classes, and unless you are sick, you must be present and on time for every meal. You are not to travel off the grounds without at least two of your fellow house mates, this is as much to chaperone you as for your protection. Many students and teachers look down on Slytherin house, we will not give them more of a reason to do so."

Ariadne, and most of the other first year students, were listening intently, the older students, having no doubt heard this before, remained quiet even if they weren't paying attention.

"Any loss of points, any detentions, any low marks, any misbehavior, will result in loss of privileges such as Hogsmede visits, quidditch, and any other out of class routines you may adopt," he said, keeping his eyes on the corner of the room occupied by the first year boys. "Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes sir," the older students responded together, the younger ones just a fraction of a second behind them.

"Very well, you may go down to breakfast," he said, then turned and exited the room swiftly, his cloak flapping behind him as he whipped around the portrait.

The girls looked at each other, then all of them followed the older students from the room. Upon arriving in the Great Hall, Ariadne noticed that only a few other students were up and at their house tables while the Slytherin table was nearly full and quite loud. She took her seat between Pansy and an older boy, and began to spoon food onto her plate.

"Wait," the boy beside her said as she went to pick up her fork. She looked at him quizzically, then noticed that none of the older students had begun to eat yet, though they all talked with each other and had food on their plates. Ariadne passed the message along to Pansy and the others, then turned back to watch the older students. A few of them were watching the head table where Snape had taken his seat. They waited until their Head of House had begun to eat before they turned to their food and began as well.

"Do we wait for him at every meal or only breakfast?" Ariadne asked, and Pansy and Millicent, the closet girls, looked up for the answer too.

"Every meal, it's out of respect," the boy said, then turned to his friend on his other side. Millicent turned to tell the other girls about this unspoken rule, then they all began eating, talking excitedly about what classes they would probably have.

Around 7:30 most of the other students had filed into the Hall to eat and the noise levels rose steadily. Ariadne had been sneaking bites of ham and bacon down to Marley who sat quietly at her feet when Professor Snape stood from the Head table along with a few other professors. Everyone at the Slytherin table had finished eating and they fell quiet as Snape walked along the table handing out papers.

"Thank you," Ariadne said as he got to their section and handed her a blank paper. When she touched it, black lines began to spread across it, forming a schedule of classes for her. All the first years would have classes with each other, which was a relief to Ariadne, as the only people she knew in the castle were in first year.

"Do you want to go back to the dorms?" Pansy asked from beside her. "Tracey, Daphne, and Hestia want to stay here for a bit I don't want to go alone."

"Sure, I need to get my books," Aria said, hopping down from the bench and following Pansy from the hall. As it turned out, quite a few students from Slytherin were going back to the common room at the same time, so they needn't have bothered.

By the time 8:30 rolled around, all the first years were gathered at the portrait hole with their books for that day's lessons, waiting for one of the prefects to show them how to get to Transfiguration, the first lesson of the day. Of all the spells Ariadne had tried before coming to school, Transfiguration was the subject she had the most trouble with. Well, she hadn't had a chance to try potions yet, but she was sure she would be able to pick that up quickly, it didn't seem too difficult.

As they waited for the prefect, Ariadne half listened to the conversations of the others, but also observed the rest of the room looking for Marley, who had disappeared after breakfast. Finally, as the prefect pushed open the portrait and beaconed to them to follow him, Marley snuck into the room, running straight for Ariadne then jumping up on her shoulder and winding around her neck into her usual place. As she stepped through the portrait, Ariadne arranged her hair so the cat was completely hidden. She wasn't sure if pets were allowed into classes, but she didn't want to take the chance.

The prefect led them up to the fifth floor and down two corridors before coming to a halt in front of an empty classroom.

"Alright you lot, you share this class with the Hufflepuffs. I suggest keeping to yourselves, most other houses don't like us seeing as we have won the House Cup the last five years in a row and we don't want to cause any disputes with them. McGonagall takes this subject, and she's pretty strict, but she's fair, so don't worry too much. Gemma will come by at the end of this class to show you where the Charms classroom is, so make sure to wait for her," he said, smiling at them for a moment. Then a group of Hufflepuffs rounded the corner and his face smoothed into an indifferent expression. "Get on then," he said, gesturing them in then turning to walk down the corridor.

Throughout the first day of classes, Ariadne kept notes to herself of who the most popular people in school were and which of the other students was best at what, making a list of who would be useful to her. She had come to realize that a lot of the pureblood students recognized her name and, those that weren't Slytherins, steered clear of her, so she knew she would have to do a lot of convincing if she wanted people to like her at all. During her classes with the Griffindors, she made note that the bushy haired girl she had sat with on the train was exceptionally smart, and the boy who had been with her was very good at Herbology. During lunch she listened to the sixth years next to her talk about who was likely to make the quidditch teams that year, taking note of who they said were the best fliers. She had heard a few whispers about the boy called Harry Potter as well, but she was still unsure whether it would be worth her time to talk to him. She had heard from a group of Ravenclaws she passed int he hall that the top student in Charms was a third year girl with long blonde hair that Ariadne didn't know the name of but had decide to hunt out at some point. She hadn't spoken to anyone since breakfast, preferring to lurk on seen in the background for now.

After dinner, Pansy, Millicent, and Tracey decided to head to the library to get a head start on their classwork in case they were assigned more the next day, and Ariadne tagged along, hoping to find one of the people she had added to her mental list of people to befriend. Marley, who had disappeared after her Transfiguration lesson, appeared at her side as they walked through the halls, following the directions of an older student they had asked.

In the library the girls split ways, going to find whatever they needed for their assignments. Ariadne hunted out a book on the theory of Transfiguration for her essay for McGonagall, then hunted for an empty desk to work at until the other girls were ready to leave. She spotted the bushy brown hair of Hermione leaning over a desk near the back of the library and made her way over.

"Hermione?" She asked quietly so as to not surprise the girl. "Is it alright if I sit here?" Hermione looked up at her, curious for a moment, then nodded.

Ariadne sat, Marley settling beside her feet, and pulled out her books and a scroll of parchment and began to flip through the book. They sat in silence for nearly twenty minutes, and Ariadne had written a good two paragraphs before Hermione finally looked up to speak.

"Why are you sitting with me?" She asked, frowning at the girl across from her.

"Well, I needed to work on my essay, and there was a lot of room at this desk-" Ariadne said acting confused, though she knew that Hermione had probably had some experience with the 'blood purity' people in her house already.

"No, I meant, shouldn't you 'not be seen with someone like me'?" Hermione asked, obviously quoting something she had heard earlier.

"Eh," Ariadne said offhandedly, shrugging her shoulders and returning to her paper. "I don't really care about all that stuff. I just don't really know anyone else yet, and I've already met you."

"Oh," Hermione said, looking down at her book. They worked in silence for another half hour until Ariadne rolled up her completed parchment and stood.

"Well, it was nice seeing you. Bye," Ariadne said, taking her book back to the shelf. Hermione waved as she walked away but didn't say anything.

She found Pansy and Millicent at one of the tables near the other side of the library, books spread in front of them, scribbling away at their parchments.

"Hey, are you guys almost ready to go? Curfew is in an hour," Ariadne said, approaching the table.

"Yeah, I'm almost done, just five more minutes," Pansy said, flipping a page inner book.

"I'm no where near done," Millicent groaned, resting her head on the table. "You guys can go ahead though. There's a group of second years over there that I can walk back with later so I don't get lost."

"Okay," Ariadne said, nodding along. "Where's Tracey?"

"Oh, I think she left earlier with some fifth years," Pansy said, finally closing her book and tucking her things away. Then she stood and sighed. I don't want to walk the halls alone. Earlier I say two with year Gryffindors try to hex a second year who was alone. None of the other students seemed afraid though."

"Well none of the other houses are as hated as we are, are they?" Ariadne said.

"What do you mean?" Pansy asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Well, form what I've heard, most of the other houses think that we all are into the dark arts and are just waiting to curse them as soon as they turn around," Ariadne said, shrugging. "They think that we are all Death Eaters."

"Well most of us do come from families that supported the Dark Lord in the first war," Pansy said, picking up her bag. "And most of us come from prestigious pureblood families. I was raised to look down on others because I am above them, I think most of us were. I guess it makes sense that others would be jealous." Pansy flipped her hair over her shoulder. Ariadne wanted to point out that jealousy was probably not what the others were feeling, but she just shrugged. She wanted her dorm mates to accept her, and if that meant acting like she agreed with what they said, then so be it.

"Who should we get to walk us back?" Ariadne said, glancing around the room.

"I guess we could just go by ourselves," Pansy said hesitantly, starting toward the door.

"I don't want to get hexed," Ariadne said, still looking around as she followed Pansy.

"We can just try to avoid the other houses," Pansy said, grabbing Ariadne's wrist and dragging her towards the door. Ariadne glanced around one last time, then turned to follow her through the door, promptly running into someone else.

"I'm sorry," Ariadne said, grabbing the persons arms for support.

"Watch where you're going," the boy said, pushing her away from him, then took in her green uniform tie and dropped the angry look from his face. "You're in Slytherin right?"

"Yeah," Ariadne said, straightening the strap of her bag over her shoulder.

"Were you two going to walk back to the common room alone?" He asked, one blond eyebrow raised. Ariadne glanced at Pansy who had just turned around to see what was keeping her.

"Oh good, Draco, walk back to the common room with us," Pansy said linking her arm through his and dragging him back through the door.

"Pansy, let go of me," he said, shaking her off. His two friends fell into step behind them as Ariadne followed Pansy and Draco down the hall. They fell into silence as two Hufflepuffs passed them, giving them a wide berth. Draco sneered at them and ran a hand over his slicked back hair, making Ariadne roll her eyes. Once out of ear shot, Pansy and Draco started to argue about something that Ariadne didn't pay attention to.

When they got back to the common room, Pansy immediately disappeared down the hall to their dorm, leaving the others in silence.

"Um, thanks for walking with us," Ariadne said, turning to face the three of them.

"Whatever," Draco said, turning and walking back out the portrait hole with his two friends. Ariadne shrugged then followed Pansy back to the dorms to get ready for bed.

_8888

For the rest of the first week of classes, Ariadne spent all of her free time getting to know her dorm mates and also refining her mental list of people who would be useful. She picked them out during mealtimes, committing their faces and names to memory. She had decided to start out with small acts, just to get them used to her, since most of them wanted nothing to do with her, either because of her name or her house. She would find them in the library and sit across from them to study, and she was always polite to them. She added to her list as she learned more about the other students, or their parents. She made a list of every pureblood student outside her house, knowing that it would come in handy to be on speaking terms with them in case she ever had reason to attend one of their social events. If her dorm mates noticed that she spent more time around people from other houses than her own, they chose not to say anything about it, for which she was grateful.

The first years quickly learned that the older students presented an image of cold indifference outside the common room, and they copied those actions for the most part. Soon the dorm room fell into a daily routine. Tracey, Millicent, and Daphne got up when the six o'clock bell rang and took turns showering, then when they were done they would wake up Pansy who would also take a shower, then the first three would go down to the common room. At 6:45, Ariadne would wake up to Marley pawing at her or licking her nose, and she would wake up Hestia. The two girls would dress in silence and wait for Pansy to be ready, then they would go down to breakfast. Ariadne would eat quickly then go back to the dorm to shower before classes started at 8:30. The girls would sit together during their classes, not talking much, then they would go to lunch and their afternoon classes, then back to the common room to work on their assignments. After dinner, they would go to the library if they needed to, and Hestia would shower before bed.

Ariadne had picked up potions quite easily, as she had predicted, but she soon found that history of Magic and Herbology were not her best subjects. Pansy struggled in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Millicent and Tracey were both falling behind in Transfiguration. By the beginning of October, they had all come to the agreement that they would practice the spells and facts they struggled most with for a couple hours after curfew each night. They had heard that Crabbe and Goyle, two of the boys in their year, had already received detention for low marks in their classes, and none of the girls wanted to waste their free time in detention with Snape writing lines or sorting potion ingredients.

Ariadne now had multiple acquaintances in other houses that would sometimes greet her in the halls or during class, and it drew the attention of quite a few people.

"Hello Hermione," Ariadne said as she passed the bushy haired girl in the halls.

"Hello," she said, nodding her head slightly, then continuing on her way.

"Why do you talk to all those people?" Pansy finally asked, a slightly disgusted look on her face as she watched Hermione walk away. "It's undignified."

"Oh well," Ariadne said, shrugging.

"Not very Slytherin of you," Pansy continued.

"Well, maybe you will figure it out sometime and then you will understand," Ariadne said, hiding a smile as she nodded to a third year raven claw girl she sometimes sat with in the library.

Pansy let out a huff and walked a little faster to the Transfiguration classroom. Transfiguration was by far her favorite subject, and the one she was best at now that she had a real person teaching her rather than just a book. Pansy and Ariadne were nearly late to the class as they had returned to their dorm during break so Pansy could get her book which she had forgotten earlier, and McGonagall narrowed her eyes at them as they walked through the doorway as the bell was ringing and took their seats.

"Alright, today you will be continuing to try to change your match sticks into needles," McGonagall said, leaving piles of matches on each table.

Ariadne had nearly gotten the hang of this spell last class, and she had been excited to try again today. It took her only four tries that morning to get it right, then she set to changing the whole pile of them into needles, then waited proudly as McGonagall made rounds of the room toward her table.

"Very good Ms. Black. Five points to Slytherin. Now try changing them back to matches," the stern professor said, and Ariadne let a grin slip out of her usually indifferent mask. This was the first time she had earned points for Slytherin, and she was extremely proud of herself for it. Beside her, Pansy was still waving her wand and muttering the needed words, but the most her match stick was doing was rolling onto its side.

"Pansy," she whispered, making the girl look up, a slightly aggravated look on her face. "Try making wider movements with your wand," Ariadne continued, twirling her wand in a wide circle to demonstrate. Pansy returned to her match, making her movements wider and after another ten minutes, she too had changed her match stick.

"Good, Ms. Parkenson. Another five points for Slytherin," McGonagall said, sweeping by to a Hufflepuff table on the other side of the isle. Pansy and Ariadne grinned at each other for a moment, then cleared their faces of emotion. Draco was the only other Slytherin who had managed to change his match by the end of class, and he smirked over at the Hufflepuffs who hadn't gotten the spell to work yet.

_8888

"Flying lessons start tomorrow!" Pansy said in a sing song voice as she walked into the dorm room for the girls nightly practice of practical spells.

"I'm so excited!" Millicent said from her position of laying half off her bed. "I miss flying." The other girls nodded along in agreement.

"I've never flown before," Ariadne said offhandedly, flipping through a book. She sat cross legged on her bed, half reading, half listening to the conversation.

"What? Never?" Pansy gasped, walking over to sit on the edge of the bed. The other girls came over too.

"Nope," Ariadne shrugged.

"It's so much fun!" Pansy said. "Of course, we never got to use real brooms, my mom said they were too dangerous."

"Yeah, we live too close to a muggle village to use real brooms," Tracey said, nodding along.

"The only thing you have to know about flying is to not be afraid," Pansy said, a serious look crossing her face. "If you get nervous you are much more likely to mess up."

"Are you kidding?" Millicent said, leaning against the end bed pole. "Aria's never afraid. I don't think I've ever seen you show any emotions before."

"I show emotion all the time, you just aren't paying attention," Aria said, purposefully keeping a blank expression. Pansy giggled, then stood to go change into her pajamas as the others already had done.

"What spells should we work on tonight?" Hestia asked, finger combing her hair absently.

"I'm getting behind in Transfiguration," Daphne said, plopping down on Ariadne's trunk.

"I'm still not getting that levitation spell in Charms," Tracey added.

"Oh, I know that one! I practiced it all summer. It's about the only Charm I can do," Ariadne said, leaning forward. "But I need to practice that freezing thing Professor Sprout told us about, I just can't get it."

"Pansy got it right away, maybe she can help?" Tracey said, standing again. "Let me get some hair pins to practice on for Transfiguration."

For the next hour and a half there was quiet muttering around the room, most of them worked alone unless they needed specific help.

"It's almost eleven," Hestia said at last, holding back a yawn. "We should probably get some sleep so we can be awake for flying tomorrow." The others nodded and began putting away their books and things, then they climbed into their beds. Tracey, being closest to the door, put the lights out when everyone was settled.

_888

"That was really stupid Draco. What if you had gotten caught?" Ariadne said, walking alongside him and the other sniggering boys in her year. They had just come back from flying lessons, if it could be called that. After Neville Longbottom had broken his wrist and Madame Hooch came back to find McGonagall towing away Harry, she had canceled the class, telling them they would resume tomorrow afternoon.

"Not all of us are friends with people because they pity them," Draco sneered as their group entered the Great Hall for dinner. Ariadne opened her mouth to protest, but there were too many other people nearby now, so she cleared her face and walked in silence to the table.

"Where's Snape?" Pansy asked ten minutes after dinner had started. None of the Slytherins had started eating yet, and more and more of them stopped their conversations to stare up at the head table.

"Maybe he heard about the flying lessons…" Daphne said anxiously, glancing down the table at Draco and his two friends. All three of them were sitting in nervous silence, glancing around the hall. They knew if Snape had found out he would probably give detentions to the whole year since none of them had tried to stop Draco and most of them had laughed along as he taunted Harry into breaking the rules.

Finally, fifteen minutes into dinner the doors flew open and Snape swept toward the table causing the few Slytherins who had still been talking to fall silent. Snape paused near the group of male first years, said something to them which resulted in many murmured "yes sir's" then came along the table to the girls.

"The six of you will be serving detention with me tomorrow night immediately after dinner," he said in a low voice, making sure the curious Ravenclaws at the next table couldn't hear him.

"Yes sir," they replied just as quietly, then watched as he continued on his way to the head table. Ariadne sighed as Snape took his seat and began to eat, but it was nearly lost in the relieved sighs from the rest of the table as they began to eat as well.

"I still haven't finished my essay for Flitwick on levitation charms," Millicent muttered under her breath.

"I'm done with mine, you can look over it if you want," Ariadne said, playing with the food on her plate that she no longer felt like eating.

"You are a life saver. There's no way I'd be able to finish it now, not with detention," Millicent responded with a relieved sigh.

"No problem. I still have the essay summarizing chapter three for DADA," Ariadne said, and the others groaned.

"Me too," Pansy said, stabbing her fork through a carrot as she glared down the table at Draco.

"It's going to be a late night," Hestia said, picking up her book bag. "I'm going to get started, I'm not really hungry. Anyone else coming?"

"Sure," Ariadne said, standing. In the end all the girls left dinner early to head back to the common room where they secured a wide table to work at and got their books out.

They sat working in silence for nearly half an hour before someone cleared their throat nearby making all of them look up.

"What do you want?" Pansy asked crossly, staring down the small group of boys in their year.

"We were hoping to study with you," the one in front said. Ariadne recognized him to be Blaise Zabini, though they hadn't spoken before. The two boys behind him were called Theodore and Terence, both of which Ariadne had also never spoken to.

"Why so you can copy off us like Crabbe and Goyle try to do? No, go away," Pansy replied, returning to her work.

"We don't want to copy, we just wanted to get away from Draco, he's being an insufferable git right now," Blaise said, rolling his eyes. The two groups stared at each other for a few minutes then Ariadne sighed.

"Sure, study with us," she said, gesturing to the empty chairs beside her and Tracey. The three of them sat and pulled their books from their bags as Pansy gave Ariadne an annoyed look. Ariadne raised an eyebrow at her and Pansy's lips twitched upward for a second, then she looked back at her paper.

"So Blaise," Ariadne said after a few minutes. "I noticed you were really good at that freezing charm Sprout wants us to learn, can you show me it?" Ariadne gestured to a small potted fern she had been practicing on.

"Sure, I guess. It's not hard," Blaise said, casting the charm on the plant, which froze immediately. Blaise then showed her how to move her wand at exactly the right time through the spell, and she cast the charm correctly on her third try.

"Thanks," she said, letting out a small smile. She had been meaning to hunt down Hermione and ask if she could help, but maybe it was about time Ariadne started putting effort into befriending people in her own house. After all, most of them had rich and powerful parents, and being friends with them could come in handy down the road.

"No problem," Blaise said, returning to his work as well. Ariadne glanced up for a moment and caught Pansy's eye. The other girl smirked at her, and Ariadne rolled her eyes in return.

Over the next few weeks, Ariadne knew Pansy was watching her closely, and though the other girl pretended to be, Ariadne knew she wasn't stupid.

"I figured it out," Pansy said one night in mid october, closing the dorm door behind her.

"What did you figure out?" Tracey asked from her bed where she was reclining with a book. As usual, Pansy was the last one to come up to the dorm for their nightly study.

"I figured out why Aria is nice to everyone," Pansy said, grinning mischievously at the end bed where said girl was laying with her head falling off the end of the bed and her large cat laying across her stomach.

"And why is that?" Ariadne asked, not looking away from the book she held upside down in front of her face.

"Because you want something from them," Pansy smirked.

"Nope," Ariadne said, slamming her book closed and sitting up. "It's because I might want something fro them in the future."

"Same thing," Pansy said, rolling her eyes. "Every person I've seen you talk to has some sort of powerful connections. Except that Longbottom kid and the muggleborn. I don't understand that one."

"Hermione is brilliant, and Neville is good at Herbology," Ariadne said, shrugging. "And I like being nice to people. Sometimes."

"So that's why I saw you talking to Cedric Diggory earlier isn't it? His dad is in the ministry," Hestia said, a look of understanding crossing her face.

"Actually, I was talking to him because he's good at flying and I wanted to learn more," Ariadne said, smiling. Then her cheeks turned red. "Also, he is very attractive."

"Aria!" Pansy shrieked, laughing. "He's like four years older than you!"

"I didn't say I was going to do anything about it," Aria shrugged, still grinning. "He's just really nice to look at."

"He really is," Tracey said, flopping down on her bed. "And so is Oliver Wood."

"He;s a Griffindor!" Millicent said, shocked.

"So?" Tracey asked, rolling over to glare at her. "He's still hot."

"Did you see that seventh year boy who always sits at the end of the Ravenclaw table?" Hestia said, joining in the conversation.

"The one with light brown hair and glasses?" Pansy asked, finally giving in.

"Or the one with blonde hair that's sorta long and a bit messy?" Daphne said, flopping down next to Tracey.

"I was talking about the blonde one," Hestia said, giggling.

"I know which one you meant though, Pansy," Ariadne said, sitting on the floor to lean against her bed. "They are both so gorgeous."

There was a round of giggles and then sighs.

"Lets practice that DADA spell," Pansy finally said, going to grab her book.

* * *

><p>AN: Hey everyone, thanks for reading. I don't usually post A/N's but I recently was invited to join a role playing site and I have found it quite enjoyable so far. I would really like it if you guys would take a look and think about joining it.

To find the site, google 'Accio Nox' and it will be the first site that comes up. If you do join, please make sure to PM the admin telling her that Aria Gray sent you, and please PM me as well (Aria Gray) and let me know who you are, I'd love to hear from you all.

This site has been around for quite a while and a lot of people are still using it, meaning that it won't just die out in a few months, and that it is very well organized.

Hope to see you there,

Kasamyra.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Hermione

Ariadne had been sitting in the library reading over her potions notes and slowly writing that weeks essay for Snape for the last two hours. Hermione had sat and joined her after a half hour, and the two had worked in silence. Finally Ariadne let out a sigh and plopped her quill down on her paper in frustration.

"Working on potions?" Hermione asked, taking a break from her work as well. Ariadne looked up in surprise. Usually Hermione didn't start conversation with her, still wary of the Slytherin.

"Yeah," Ariadne nodded, stretching her arms out in front of her, letting her shoulders pop loudly. "I must have missed something in class yesterday because I just can't figure out the connection between all these stupid ingredients for this essay." She crossed her arms on the table and set her chin on top of them.

"Want to look over my notes?" Hermione asked, pushing a muggle notebook across the table to her.

"You don't mind?" Ariadne asked, lifting her face.

"No it's fine, I already finished my potions essay anyway," Hermione said, smiling across the table at Ariadne.

"Thanks," Ariadne said, lifting the notebook in front of her and scanning through Hermione's note. She paused to scribble a few things down on her own notes, then handed the notebook back ten minutes later and began work on the rest of the potions assignment. Finally she rolled up that parchment, satisfied with the essay, and pulled out her transfiguration book to start reading what they would cover in class tomorrow.

"What are you working on?" Ariadne asked, noticing Hermione tap her wand against her parchment to remove the words she had written for the fifth time in the last ten minutes.

"Transfiguration," Hermione said, not looking up. "I was just reading over the assignment for tomorrow one last time and I decided to rewrite part of it, but now I can't figure out how to word it."

"What part are you at?" Ariadne asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I've detailed the incantation and pronunciation for turning the match into a needle, and I've got the wand movement down, but I just can't get the wand movements into words correctly," Hermione said, scowling down at her paper and tapping her wand against it again.

"Would you like to look at mine?" Ariadne asked, pulling it out of her bag. "I've finished it, maybe it'll give you some ideas." She set it on top of one of the books Hermione had stacked in front of her. Hermione hesitated for a moment, looking at the scroll.

"It's fine Hermione, it's not like you are copying it, and you already know how to do the spell, it's not cheating or anything," Ariadne said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Okay," Hermione said, grabbing the scroll and glancing over it. Ariadne returned to her book and read over the next chapter for the next twenty minutes, trying to make sense of the next spell they would be learning.

As the bell signaling curfew approaching rang out, Ariadne let out a breath and packed up her books and notes again, preparing to leave.

"Thanks," Hermione said, rolling up the scroll and handing it back to Ariadne, then packing up her things as well.

"Anytime. You're a good study partner," Ariadne said, smiling as she waited for Hermione to pick up her bag. They walked together out of the library, parting ways at the staircase with murmured farewells.

Breakfast the next morning passed in a flurry of motion as Crabbe and Goyle hurriedly copied off someone's notes to finish their potions homework for Snape in an attempt to avoid detentions. Ariadne might have taken pity on them, but last night when she had gotten back to the common room one of them had purposely tripped her as she crossed the room to the girls dorms, so she didn't care right now if they got detentions.

Ariadne was listening to Pansy talking about a party her mother had thrown over the summer, and frowning to herself as Pansy companied about all the extra 'girl training', as she called it, she'd had to endure. Millicent and Hestia nodded in sympathy.

"I've never had table manner lessons," Ariadne said, frowning as she played with the food on her plate with her fork.

"We know," Millicent said, rolling her eyes, but she had a small smile on her face to let Aria know she was joking. "You slouch too much to have ever been taught the way we were."

"I slouch?" Ariadne asked self consciously, sitting up straighter on the bench.

"It's nothing that bad," Pansy said, waving a hand at her. "Most of our mothers are just really picky about how we should behave."

"Can you teach me?" Ariadne asked, frowning over in their direction. Pansy and Millicent looked at each other and Hestia gave a shrug.

"I don't see why you would want to learn, but I can tell you what my mother told me if you really want," Pansy said, raising an eyebrow at Aria.

"I just want to know, in case I'm ever in a situation where it's important," Ariadne explained, shrugging.

"Well I'm sure there are books int he library too if you are really that interested," Pansy said, taking a bite of her food.

Ariadne watched the other girls closely through the rest of the mean, noticing how they sat and moved, now that she was paying attention. Even with the backless benches, all of them, and many of the boys as well, sat straight and kept their arms and hands off the table, only leaning forward over their plates to take a bite. Ariadne straightened her back, trying to get used to the new position, and spent the rest of the meal keeping her posture correct.

She stopped by the Library after classes let out that afternoon and searched through the shelves for any books on table manners, and settled on one called Pureblood Society Etiquette: Lessons for a Young Witch. She tucked it into her bag and returned to her common room quickly, hoping not to be caught alone in the hallways. Most of the pranking on Slytherin house had died down after the first month, now that many of the other students were focusing more on their homework, but not many would pass up a chance to get back at a lone first year.

As she entered the common room, Ariadne took note of all of her house mates that were sitting around the room, looking to see where her friends were. The four other girls, as well as Blaise and Theo, were once again gathered around their usual table in the back corner, all of them with their assignments out. Ariadne dropped her book bag off in her dorm room before grabbing her Charms book and heading out to join them. She had gotten pretty far ahead in her classwork, a pleasant result of studying with Hermione, and she only had to write a conclusion for her Charms essay before she was done with work for the rest of the week.

The next few days flew by, and before she knew it, Halloween had approached and the first year Slytherin's made their way down to the Halloween feast together. Ariadne tagged behind the group a bit, nodding or waking to the students she knew that passed by her. The Great Hall had been decorated fantastically, and Ariadne smiled as she took in the many carved pumpkins and charmed plastic spiders. As she entered the hall, she ran straight into the back of another boy and lost her balance, falling backwards. She flung out her left hand to try to break her fall and heard it pop loudly before the she registered the pain.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you," the boy said, holding a hand out to help her out. She grabbed it with her right hand and let him pull her up, then cradled her left arm in her good hand and looked up, keeping the pain from her face.

"It's okay," she said to the boy, who she recognized as Harry Potter, the infamous Gryffindor boy she hasn't talked to before. "I'm fine."

"Well, sorry again," he said, then turned around to enter the nearly full hall, joining his red haired friend who gave her a glare as she walked to the table.

"Aria, where were you?" Pansy asked as she sat down beside her. "And what did you do to your arm?" Ariadne glanced down at her wrist which was now turning purple and swelling a bit.

"I fell," Ariadne said, wincing as she moved her arm a bit. "I'll go up to the hospital wing as soon as Snape sees I'm here so I don't get detention later.

"It looks-" Pansy began, but was cut off as the headmaster stood to address them all. Ariadne patiently waited out his speech, and as soon as Snape did his daily scan of the table from where he sat, she stood and slipped out of the doors, making sure they shut quietly behind her. She was a little sorry to miss the meal, but she wasn't really that hungry anyway. The halls seemed much colder now that they were empty, and she tried to hurry up to the fourth floor.

As she rounded the corner to the second floor, she heard a muffled sob, followed by a few sniffles, and paused, looking around the hallway.

The sounds seemed to be coming from the girls bathroom on that level, and Ariadne pushed the door open quietly as whoever was inside continued to sniffle. She paused outside the stall that was obviously occupied, and noted that she could see the shadow under the door, indicating whoever was inside was curled up on the floor. She pushed the door gently, letting it swing open slowly, and took a hesitant step inside.

"Hermione?" She asked, frowning down at the girl who sat with her arms around her knees and her face buried in her arms. She looked up as Ariadne spoke, and tried to wipe the tears off her face. Her eyes were swollen and red, suggesting that she had been there for a while.

"Aria? What are you doing here?" Hermione asked, uncurling her legs. Her voice was rough, and Ariadne frowned further.

"Are you alright? Whats wrong?" Ariadne asked, kneeling down in front of Hermione while making sure her left arm wasn't too jostled.

"I'm alright, I was… just, uh, upset," Hermione mumbled, looking down.

"I can see that. Whats wrong?" Ariadne asked, folding her legs underneath her in a more comfortable position.

"Oh, well, Ro- someone, just said something, it's fine," Hermione said, still mumbling. Seeing she was in for a long conversation, Ariadne scooted over next to Hermione and leaned against the wall too.

"Ron was a jerk?" Ariadne guessed, frowning again. She had heard the red head and Harry Potter in their shared classes and she had to admit that Ron had a habit of saying the wrong things at the wrong times, quite often.

"He said that maybe if I wasn't such a know-it-all I'd actually have friends," Hermione said, her tears watering up again.

"Well you do have friends," Ariadne said, confused. "You have me and Neville Longbottom, and that's more that Ron has, he only has Harry."

Hermione just sniffed in response, but her tears didn't flow over.

"Besides, he's just mad because you are smarter than he is. Have you seen his attempts in Potions?" Ariadne said, laughing quietly. The last class period, Ron's potion was nearly as bad as Neville's, and the only reason Snape didn't point it out was because he had been trying to rectify the explosion caused by Seamus Finnigan's potion. The corners of Hermione's mouth twitched up, and Ariadne smiled.

"Not everyone is as good at studying as you are Hermione," Ariadne said, the smiling falling from her face again. "And everyone you beat is going to be a little upset that they aren't the best, so naturally they will try to bring you down to make themselves feel better."

"It's just annoying," Hermione said loudly, living her head up again. "I get enough crap from the other girls in my dorm, I don't need it from that idiot as well," she said, scowling.

"What's wrong with the other girls?" Ariadne asked, leaning her head back against the wall to look up at the ceiling.

"They make fun of me because of my hair and the way I dress," Hermione admitted quietly, twisting the ends of one puffy curl around her fingers.

"Well, your hair is really fluffy," Ariadne said, patting down the hair on the top of her head. Hermione let out a little laugh. "But I think it's great. It's something unique, and that is always good."

"Thanks," Hermione said, getting to her feet. "The feast must be nearly done, we should go," she said, holding out a hand to Ariadne to help her up. As Ariadne got to her feet, a wave of foul smelling air hit both of them, and they both immediately brought hands up to cover their noses.

"What on earth is that?" Hermione asked, her face scrunching up. The door to the bathroom fell shut loudly, and there were a few guns and shuffling heard from the large area in front of the sinks. Ariadne pushed open the door and let out a loud scream, slamming it quickly.

"There's a troll out there!" Ariadne cried, wincing as she heard it coming closer. Hermione's eyes widened, and she shrunk back against the wall.

"What do we do?" She cried, hearing the footsteps stop outside their cubicle.

"Quick, crawl under there, maybe we can confuse it if we split up," Ariadne said, using her good hand to point to the small area under the wall that led to the next stall over. Hermione nodded and scooted herself under the wall, barely fitting. The troll smashed through the stall door and Ariadne used it's recovery time to run past it and duck underneath the sinks. It turned toward her and let out a howl, swinging a large wooden club over its head to smash the sink Ariadne hid under as she scooted farther down the line, out of its way.

"Aria!" Hermione called worriedly as she flung open the stall door, letting it hit the troll from behind. It whirled around and spotted her, giving Ariadne time to run towards the door, but it swung open as she approached, and Ron and Harry ran in, both with frightened looks on their faces.

"Confuse it!" Harry yelled as the troll approached Hermione. Ron and Harry threw pieces of the broken sink at it, yelling as they did so, and the troll turned toward them.

Hermione ducked as the troll stumbled and waved its arms around, and Ron dived out of its way, pulling Harry with him. The troll wrapped one giant hand around Ariadne's legs and she let out a scream as it pulled her into the air upside down.

"Do something!" Hermione shouted at the other two, as the troll regained balance and swung it's club toward Ariadne's dangling form. She lifted up the upper half of her body, feeling her stomach muscles burn at the strain, and the club passed inches from her. Harry jumped onto the trolls back with a yell, startling it into spinning around, taking Ariadne with it, her head barely missing the wall as it turned. A moment later, Ron did something, and the trolls club was pulled from its hand, and lifted above its head, falling with a loud crack onto it's scull. As the troll fell over, it loosened it's grip on her enough that Ariadne was able to roll free from the body. The four of them stood panting in the bathroom for a moment, staring at each other in disbelief.

"What is going on here?" A harsh voice said from the doorway, and they turned to see Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape standing with their wands out. The boys looked at each other, then at Hermione. "Why aren't you four in your dormitories?"

"Er," Ron said, looking anywhere but at the Professors.

"Um," Harry added unhelpfully. "Well you see, Professor-"

"It was my fault Professor," Hermione said loudly, making everyone in the room look at her in surprise. "I went after the troll. I thought I could take it on, you see, I've read all about them. If Harry and Ron hadn't come after me..."

"Foolish girl," Professor McGonagall cried, "you could have been killed! Ten points from Gryffindor," she continues. Ariadne could see Professor Snape watching her with narrowed eyes, and she looked down at her feet, holding her injured arm out from her side slightly.

"Now get back to your dormitory immediately," Professor McGonagall continued, and Hermione slipped through the door quickly, her head down.

"And you two," McGonagall said, turning to the boys. "What were you thinking, taking on a full grown mountain troll by yourselves? Why didn't you call for help? Never mind," She said quickly as Harry opened his mouth to try to make more excuses. "Not many first years could have gotten away without injury. Five points each, for sheer dumb luck," she said, then turned to Ariadne and frowned.

"If you don't mind, I will discipline students from my house," Snape's voice drawled, and McGonagall hesitated, but stepped back.

"Explain, in the briefest way possible, how you managed to be here, instead of in your dorms as all the students were ordered to be. Do you think yourself above the rules, Ms. Black?" Snape said in a low voice, and Ariadne nearly lost her nerve to say anything at all. She cleared her throat though, and lifted her head to look at the Professors face as was the polite thing to do.

"I was on my way to the hospital wing, Professor, and I heard the commotion and came to see what was happening. I didn't know we were ordered to return to the dormitories." Ariadne said, then lost her nerve and dropped her eyes to her feet again. "I must have left the Great Hall before hearing that order, sir."

Snape said noting for a moment, then leaned back just the slightest amount, and looked her over quickly.

"And why, pray tell, were you on your way to the hospital wing?" He drawled, not seeing the immediate injury. She held her left arm up so they could see the purple bruising and swelling around her wrist.

"I fell on my way to dinner, and I think I broke my wrist," she said, forcing herself to look up again. She let out a small gasp as Snape's cool fingers lived her wrist higher. His grip was gentile though, and he dropped it as soon as he had grabbed it, and backed away.

"If you don't mind, I need to escort my student to the infirmary," Snape said, then whipped around and, with his robes trailing behind him, gestured for her to follow him. She didn't look back at the others as she followed Snape up two flights of stairs and to the hospital wing. He waited near the door and Madame Pomfrey fussed over her wrist.

Ten minutes later, her arm was back to normal and she hesitantly returned to the doorway where Snape was waiting. He turned and began to lead her back to the dungeons in silence. She resigned herself to trailing slightly be hid him in silence. As they neared the doors, he finally spoke, and Ariadne expected detention at the very least.

"Five points to you for not getting killed by a troll," Snape said, surprising her into looking up. He raised a brow, and Ariadne had the sudden thought that he wasn't as uptight as all the other houses thought he was. "The others got points, and we need to keep things even," he said in way of explanation. They came to a halt outside the portrait.

"Don't let me catch you out of the dorms at night again, or I will give you detention," he said, then turned and walked away, leaving Ariadne standing open mouthed for a moment, before muttering the password and climbing in the common room in silence.

* * *

><p>The next morning Ariadne sat silently at the Slytherin table for breakfast, half concentrating on her posture, and half wondering if the Gryffindors would tell anyone what happened with the troll<p>

When no one had said anything to her about it by lunchtime, she presumed they wouldn't. She had seen the three of them sitting together for their meals, which surprised her, but then she supposed Hermione must have forgiven them after they helped take care of the troll.

After classes, she went to the library and wandered back to the table she usually shared with Hermione, only to find it filled with Ron and Harry as well. As she set her books down in her normal seat, they all looked up at her. Hermione smiled, Harry nodded in greeting, and Ron glared.

"What are you doing here?" Ron spat at her as she sat.

"Ron!" Hermione said, chastising him.

"I study here with Hermione every Tuesday and Thursday," Ariadne said, refusing to let his glares bother her and she pulled out her books.

"Shouldn't you be sitting with your Slytherin friends?" Ron asked rudely, not even five minutes later.

"Ron, she can sit here if she wants, shut up already," Hermione said, scowling at him. He rolled his eyes, but continued to glare at Ariadne. After ten minutes of this, she sighed and looked up.

"What's your problem?" Ariadne asked, glaring back at Ron.

"Well it's obvious you are just sitting here to spy on us for your other stupid friends," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Ariadne looked at him incredulously for a moment, then shook her head.

"Are you serious?" She asked, watching Harry and Hermione's heads turn between the two of them.

"Why else would you be here?" He spat at her.

"Because Hermione is my friend," Ariadne said, scowling at him. He snorted.

"We are Hermione's friends," he said harshly, gesturing between himself and Harry. "She doesn't need friends like you who will probably turn around and stab her in the back as soon as you can."

"Fine," Ariadne said, standing from the table and gathering her things up. She shoved her things back into her bag and shoved her chair in angrily, letting it bang against the table.

"Aria," Hermione began, but she just shook her head and walked away from the table. Behind her, she could hear Hermione berating Ron before she left the room completely. She sighed, hesitating outside the doorway, unsure where to go now. She didn't want to go back to her common room, she could only deal with the loud company of her housemates a few times a week.

After a brief pause, she headed to the Great Hall. Dinner would start in two hours, which gave her plenty of time to finish her work. The Hall was empty, the tables cleared of food and full of place settings lined up neatly. She sat about halfway down the Slytherin table, in the spot her classmates usually sat at, and pulled out her books and notes. After half an hour of focusing on her work, Ariadne's throat was dry and she looked around for the jugs of water that usually lined the tables, but they weren't there. She had assumed her first week here that the meals were prepared by elves, but she wasn't sure how the magic of the tables worked. She cleared her throat, then glanced around again, making sure the room was still empty.

"Er, could I have some pumpkin juice? Please?" She said, feeling foolish for talking to no one, but at least her room mates weren't around to tease her for it. A few seconds later, a jug of juice appeared in front of her and she let out a sigh of relief and poured a glass for herself.

"Thanks," she said into the air, then returned to her homework. She was just finishing up her last assignment when a few Slytherin's began to filter into the hall. Slytherin's were usually the first to arrive, and they were the only table that was full at the start of each meal.

"Why are you here so early?" Pansy asked, plopping down next to Ariadne as she tucked her books back into her bag and waited for the rest of the table to fill.

"The library was a bit crowded today, so I came here," Ariadne said, shrugging.

"Oh," Pansy said, then turned to talk to Millicent who was sitting on her other side.

Ariadne ate her dinner in silence, only glancing up at the Gryffindor table once, catching Hermione's eye as she did so. Ariadne raised an eyebrow at her, and Hermione shrugged in apology. Ariadne smiled and shook her head back, letting Hermione know she wasn't mad at her.

* * *

><p>AN: Hey guys, sorry I've been so slow at updating this story, I've been really distracted with a new site I found called Accio Nox. It's a Harry Potter RP site, and it's super fun, and I've been addicted the last few weeks. You should come join us, if you are bored. Just google Accio Nox and it's the first thing that comes up. If you do join, make sure you PM me and let me know :) My username is Aria Gray. I'd love to see you all there :)


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